THE spectacular sales success of the tiny, low-cost Eee PC notebook from Asus has prompted the sincerest form of flattery from its competitors – imitation.

Research group Gartner says rival companies are already developing products that compete with Eee PC at the low-cost end of the market.

Asus launched the Eee PC in Australia less than a month ago. Selling through Myer as exclusive retailer, the product has already sold out. It is the same in other markets like the US and UK.

The appeal of the Eee PC is that it is small (less than a kilo) and cheap (less than $500). But Gartner says in its Semiconductor DQ Monday Report this week that the Eee PC has attracted the attention of vendors who want to produce low-cost notebooks with better functionality – and steal Asus’ market.

Gartner said China’s Hasee Computer plans to launch a low-cost notebook soon, with a bigger display than the Eee PC, a more powerful processor and more storage.

The Hasee Q540X notebook will run an Intel Celeron 540 processor, an 80Gb hard drive, weighing 2.2 kilos and priced at about US$400 (A$450)  .

The Eee PC has built in wireless connectivity and uses the Linux open source operating system.