Last month, the computer blogosphere went crazy with the piece of news that Coby was releasing netbooks that would be priced under $100. $99 was the exact amount if you really want to be precise. Less than a few hours later, the bubble burst as Coby Electronics told us that it was a bunch of hogwash and that there was nothing to fuss about.

At CES 2009, it turns out that Coby netbooks have been spotted. Maybe the publicity craze motivated the manufacturer to get onto the netbook ball? These mini notebooks are not $99 though. They are said to be under $200 which probably means $199.99. Those who have played around with them say that they feel rather cheap.

See: Coby’s sub-$200 netbooks handled at CES via Gotta Be Mobile

“Coby Electronics, a leading international manufacturer and distributor of electronics consumer-packaged goods for discount stores, plans to introduce the first under-$100 laptop by March 2009. Well, it’s $99.95, if you call that “under $100.” You’ll find Coby in dollar stores, drugstores, etc” - Forget Cyber Monday: COBY Plans “Moore’s Law” MIDGET PC for $100 in March

I don’t know what to make of such a cheap netbook. And I bet you that some retailers may even price it lower than the original price! As portable computers become commodities, I would not be surprised if this mini-mini laptop sold like gangbusters.

Update: The PoqetMate-7 and PoqetMate-9 will have 7-inch and 9-inch displays, respectively, and be based on the Chinese Loongson processor with a keyboardroughly the same size as the original Eee PC (Sub-$100 Coby netbook coming to discount stores March 2009)