AsusTek chief Jonney Shih has confirmed that the rumoured Asus Eee phone will be launched later in the year.

Asus recently became a member of the Open Handset Alliance so it's possible, if not likely, that the upcoming Eee will run the Google Android operating system despite the fact that Asus currently makes Microsoft powered handsets.

Details of the Eee are scarce, but Shih did suggest to the NY Times that an Eee phone would be able to control other Eee devices, suggesting that there will be Wi-Fi on board.

Shih didn't mention pricing specifically aside of stating that it was 'low cost'; just how low that is we don't know, but the success of the Eee range so far has undoubtedly been in part due to the aggressive pricing adopted by AsusTek.

We can't wait to find out some of the specs for this handset but it looks like for now we'll just have to be patient, we'll bring you any news as we get it.