$99 Netbooks In Your Future

$99 Netbooks In Your Future

Sunday, November 02, 2008 - by Dave Altavilla
From pre-paid calling cards to minute plans with so-called "free phones", sometimes it's painfully obvious that, although we hate to admit it here, it's not always completely about the hardware.  More than a few industry analyst have predicted that the mainstream PC of tomorrow will be nothing more than a thin client connected to the "grid" for services and applications.  Now, Computerworld's Mike Elgan ruminates about what will likely be the new frontier for affordable, mobile computing; the $99 Netbook with a "plan"...

"Subnotebooks like the Asus Eee PC, the Dell Mini 9 and the HP 2133 Mini-Note will soon cost as little as $99. The catch? You'll need to commit to a two-year mobile broadband contract. The low cost will come courtesy of a subsidy identical to the one you already get with your cell phone."

And this release PR Newswire release for AT&T details that Lenovo, Ericson and AT&T have indeed inked a deal that will bring a similar business model to market very soon...

"Under the agreement, AT&T's 3G service -- the nation's fastest 3G network -- is available on a full range of Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks, which come factory-equipped with Ericsson built-in mobile broadband modules that are enabled for AT&T LaptopConnect. The service provides extensive broadband access both domestically and internationally.

All three of the ThinkPad SL notebooks and all notebooks in Lenovo's T and X series are included in the offering. Customers who purchase the ThinkPad notebooks with the embedded mobile broadband and establish an account with AT&T will receive 30 days of free AT&T DataConnect service.  The notebooks are sold directly through http://www.lenovo.com."

Technologies like Intel's low power, low cost Atom processor and VIA's Nano CPU have certainly brought the cost model down but it appears a mobile broadband service contract might help take things down a notch or two as well.

Via: Computerworld | News Archive | Tags: Netbook, Netbooks, Book, TB, Future
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Comments

By Super Dave on Nov 2, 2008

Sounds good, but I bet the early-termination fee is a killer!

By Dave_HH on Nov 2, 2008

Yep and you have to sign a 5 YEAR deal, along with giving your first born or left arm should you be without children.

By 3vi1 on Nov 2, 2008

5 YEARS?!?!  ouch.

 

By bob_on_the_cob on Nov 2, 2008

Dave_HH:

Yep and you have to sign a 5 YEAR deal, along with giving your first born or left arm should you be without children.

That thing would not be worth anything in 5 yearsConfused

By 3vi1 on Nov 2, 2008

I was thinking the exact same thing: For them to do this, they either have to give you a netbook that's so thin on features that it will be more useful as a door stop in two years, or jack the service costs up through the roof.

By Super Dave on Nov 2, 2008

Betcha didn't know Super Heroes could preempt the news story!

By 3vi1 on Nov 2, 2008

Able to leap tall news postings in a single bound:  Check.

By Super Dave on Nov 2, 2008

Perhaps only happens during a server time change!

By bob_on_the_cob on Nov 2, 2008

OMG Superdave. Funniest posts ever.

By Super Dave on Nov 2, 2008

Most likely AT&T's notebook would have no ethernet port (because they only want you to connect to the net with their paid service) and no way of using any wireless device except AT&T's built-in device (which, you guessed it, only connects to the AT&T network).

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