Asustek Computer on December 1 unveiled its Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet PC for launch in the Taiwan market at recommended retail prices of NT$17,900 (US$591) and NT$20,900 for 32GB and 64GB versions respectively.

The Eee Pad Transformer Prime features Google's Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3.

Among non-Apple tablet PC vendors, Asustek's shipments in 2011 will only lag behind Korea-based Samsung Electronics with a volume of 1.8 million units. In 2012, the company will launch more tablet PC models, and its tablet PC shipments will reach at least four million units.

The company's consolidated revenues are estimated to reach NT$95-95 billion in the fourth quarter, slightly below those of the third quarter. Revenues for the first quarter of 2012 will drop sequentially, but represent a double-digit growth on year.

Asustek will ship 14-14.3 million traditional notebooks in 2011 with shipments of Eee PC to reach 4.6-4.8 million units. The company's total notebook shipments (including netbooks) will reach around 19 million units in 2011, making it the fifth largest worldwide vendor.

For 2012, the company is aiming to ship totally 22-25 million notebooks and surpass Dell. Five million units of the shipments will be netbooks and 17-20 million traditional models.