Santa Clara (CA) - Asus and Intel announced today they are launching a website devoted to consumer ideas and their PC needs. Consumers will be able to collaborate with one another, Asus and Intel on what technology designs will help innovate future, more useful products. The companies believe this effort will deliver unto the marketplace the world's first community designed PC. Who's ready to step up and shape this product?





Votes and discussions



Global participants will engage in forum discussions over elemental PC designs, specific technologies and concepts as they're submitted by the community. Votes will be taken to determine, in a democratic way, just how desirable the ideas are. The goal will be to produce the most awesome PC ever conceived of by man - well, at least by the participants of this community.



Mike Hoefflinger, GM of Intel's Partner Marketing Group said, "Intel believes the spark for innovation can come from anywhere. That's why Intel is working with Asus to tap into the creative energy of consumers as they share ideas on designing their ideal PC. Intel is committed to encouraging conversations with consumers and giving people a voice in the design of technology they use every day."





Division amongst the troops



The WePC.com community will work on any or all of three focus areas with each specific to an end product. These include designs for netbooks, regular notebooks and high-end notebook-based gaming machines. Notably absent from the "Community-Designed PC initiative," and perhaps ironically, is the ubiquitous desktop personal computer - this month is only the the first time in PC history that notebook sales exceed desktop sales.



Still, some requirements of the community-driven design have already been laid out. For example, the PCs must all include an Intel processor, such as Atom, Centrino 2 or Centrino 2 Extreme, and they will use both Intel and ASUS technologies for any motherboard components or add-ons which are specified by the community.

Participation in the effort will also be rewarded as unspecified numbers and types of prizes will reportedly be awarded. These will go to the most creative efforts submitted by members of the forum.


From Eee PC to WePC, it's love



Intel and Asus are happy partners in this effort. They've been developing consumer and server systems since the 90s. Asus, maker of the lightweight and powerful Eee PC, brings much expertise in small-and-light technology to the initiative. Intel brings R&D money, marketing and low-power consumption expertise. Together, it's a match made in WePC heaven. Kisses!