targetdrone :
There was a time when Google was selling $600 specs for $300, now look at the cost of a Nexus. I don't think Asus will be able to keep it up for long.
Why wouldn't they be able to keep them up? A $80 Android phone already has all the fundamental components of a $700 phone. The BoM difference between that and a $200 551KL is likely less than $70 ($20 for the RAM, $10 for the display, $10 for the SoC, $10 for the cameras, $20 for miscellaneous other stuff), which means Asus is pocketing around $50 extra per sale there. From there to uber-high-end phones, it is only another $70-100 on the BoM or so, mostly to beef up the specs of individual components, a 300-500% incremental markup. Asus can keep it up for however long as they want to grow their market share since they are making a fairly decent profit on each sale as it is.
The only reason Google ended up charging $600 for their new phones and tablet is because they decided to re-purpose the Nexus brand from its original value-oriented and developer-friendly Android launch platform brand to a premium consumer brand priced to match its intended competitors.