Asus have completly missed the boat with the new Eee 900 because they have managed to add all new features etc the BOM has rockited and so has the retail price. Now it is actully up there with proper laptops.
I was looking and waiting for the new Eee 900 because asus hinted before it would be around the same price as the old 700 which is about £200 sterling here in the uk but now they look more over £300 and for that you can get yourself a proper laptop based on a mobile Core 2 Due or Turion dual core processor with lots of memory, bigger screen and Dvd.
So went and bought one of them instead.
And reading forums i am not alone making this call.

The problem is that Asus seems to be run by marketing chimps that don't appear to know what they are doing. Why release the 900 at all? who would buy that when a month later the 901 and 1000h are released? What is the deal with the 904 and all the other nonsense models they have just released? Who would buy the XP 901 over the Linux, instead of buying the Linux model for the 20GB SSD and then installing XP if need be? What is their target market? I'd be surprised if they stay in business at this rate.

This little guy is very neat, but too expensive for what little computing ability you get. You can buy a full 15" powerfull laptop with twice the memory, twice the CPU, twice the HD at the same price. Once these guys become priced right, then they'll sell very well.

The problem is that Asus isn't really giving you all that much for the price. You can get a bona fide laptop with a larger screen and a low end Core 2 Duo for around $500 US these days, and it has a much larger screen that's in a proper aspect ratio, a decent sized HDD, DVD drive, and everything. What exactly is the incentive to purchase an 8.9" screen gadget with limited storage, limited speed, and the screen is an odd resolution, which is limiting.

Honestly, the small size has its pluses, but the price is too high. $249 for the 7", $349 for the 8.9" and we might have a winner.

Also, Asus's desire to add XP to the lineup is surely running the costs up and taking away from some of the gadget's lure. Why would you want something so limited if it's little more than something else that's a better bargain? Linux and laptops are a balancing act, but to be able to purchase something so portable, at a reasonable price, with Linux already installed and everything working perfectly should be a home run.

Come on.... 1.7million in around nine months is pretty good.

How many did they need to sell to break even?

That's still not bad, considering the amount of marketing that was done. There aren't too many people that have heard of them (aside from techies), and they still sold 1.7 mil? 

I wouldn't exactly call it a loss, by any means.