New Acer, Asus netbooks on hold

Acer and Asus have reportedly decided not to ship any new entry-level netbook models this year, and Acer has pushed back the release of its highly-anticipated Android netbook.

Digitimes reports that both companies are responding to Intel’s delay of the Pine Trail-M platform into the first quarter of next year. The story also says Acer and Asus want to spend the second half of 2009 focusing on consumer ultra-low voltage notebooks, a line of thin laptops that are larger and more powerful than netbooks.

Acer still plans to release its Android netbook this year, but in October instead of August. The company’s budget for netbook marketing and R&D will decrease. Asus will still launch a pair of touch screen netbooks, the Eee PC T91 and Eee T101, the latter of which will arrive after the release of Windows 7.

But as for plain, Windows-based netbooks, both companies are apparently waiting with Intel for the dust to settle on the economy.

As this year has progressed, practically every netbook brand on the market looks increasingly similar. They’re all reportedly hamstrung by restrictions on storage space and RAM, imposed by Microsoft as a condition for discounted Windows XP licensing. In turn, advancements in netbooks have focused on battery life, screen resolution and build quality.

That’s not likely to change with the release of Windows 7, so it falls to Intel to power any added netbook muscle from here on — though Microsoft enforces processor speed limitations as well. With this in mind, it makes sense for Asus and Acer to hang back on new models, and for consumers, it’s not heartbreaking news.