Asus Confirms Second-Gen Eee Touch Screens

Rumors of a touch-screen Eee that have circulated since January have finally received a nod from the top, with a launch just months away.

While the next generation of Asus’ Eee with an 8.9-inch LCD screen has been confirmed by Asus since earlier this month, the rumored touch-screen variant just recently became reality. Asus confirmed the touch feature to the Taiwanese media outlet DigiTimes on Wednesday, along with offering a projected price for the machine.

Kevin Lin, vice president of Asus’ sale department, told DigiTimes that touch-enabled  Eees would begin to ship in May or June. Besides touch screens, the prospect of GPS was also mentioned, although not explicitly confirmed.

Lin said the new Eee models should sell for about NT$15,000 upon launch, which works out to about $500 USD. In total, Asus hopes to push out five million of the notebooks in 2008 alone.