- Intel officially launched the Classmate PC

- A seven hour lasting Viliv S7 netbook was announced

- Forrester, through numbers, showed that consumers mostly view netbooks as secondary computers

-  A portable media device manufacturer announced a netbook. Look out for Archos ultraportable notebooks at a store near you

It was a pretty quiet week that was mostly dominated by the Sony netbook and how beautiful but expensive it is. But as the week closed, there were reports of a cheap Sony Vaio netbook meaning that Sony would partake in the race for the small and cheap.

I wrote that Intel should not worry about 12″ netbooks and wondered why TV tuners were becoming popular features in netbooks.

And that’s how week III of 2009 ended up. Thanks for reading and remember to stay tuned by subscribing to the RSS feed. Thanks!

The first bombshell of 2009 was hearing that there would be no Apple netbook as Netbook Era contrary to what hundreds of bloggers and pundits had predicted. It does not mean that Apple has nothing up their sleeves. It just means that it was not for now. 

On the other hand, we got to formally hear all about the Sony netbook aka Sony P-Series Lifestyle PC. Apparently, the Sony people don’t want us calling it a netbook but what do you call a 8″ mini laptop that’s ultra portable, thin and powered by Intel’s Atom? Just because it’s super expensive does not prevent it from being a netbook!

We also got acquainted with HP’s corporate netbook, the HP Mini 2140 which sports a slick aluminum design. Other netbooks announced at CES 2009 are: Samsung NC20, Elonex, Asus Eee 131, Coby, Gdium Liberty, Dell Adamo Mini 10, Velocity NoteMagix M10 , Fujitsu Tokidoki, Commodore, ViewSonic VieBook and many more other netbooks.

CES ’09 was truly all about netbooks and some people even noticed that most journalists used them as reporting tools! 

We also got wind of the news that Windows 7 would also be available in light form for netbooks, an official move by Microsoft to recognize the netbook craze and maybe pre-counter the possible Android attack.

With so many netbooks on the block, Netbook Era came to the conclusion that most would not see the end of 2009 due to intense competition and no real distinguishing features and specifications. We also advised Intel to chill and not worry about the 12″ netbooks threat.

With the tech shows over, 2009 can now be on its way and we can’t wait to see what it will be all about.

While a great selection ultimately benefits the netbook user aka the customer, too much choice is a turn off. I write about netbooks all day and of all people, i am having a hard time keeping up with the new netbooks that have been announced this week so far! All the manufacturers of these new mini notebooks obviously expect to sell millions of them and thus make money in this tough times.

The bad news is that only a few brands will fare well while the rest will sink as quickly as they surfaced. At this time of writing, I would not be lying if I said that there are probably more than 100 netbooks that a potential buyer would have to choose from if all the brands or models were put in front of her.

That’s just too much and it may turn against the netbook industry as a whole. What’s causing the recession in the first place? Excess is one of the culprit. 

Big brands such as HP, Lenovo, Dell and Sony will make money from netbooks because of their strong brands. But brands such as InTheMixx, Commodore and BenQ may find that their netbooks will not sell plenty.

The ultimate winner may be Acer with their Aspire One. That’s because the potential buyer will be so confused with the many netbooks available to her that she will just go with the popular choice which is Acer followed closely by Asus.

Everyone jumping on the netbook bandwagon shows that the netbook is a promising concept. The downside is that the confusion may turn off consumers and hurt many brands as a result.

- Super cheap netbooks by Elonex will be sold in popular UK stores

- Asus introduced the Eee 131 that features a 512GB drive and Windows 7

- The forthcoming Sony netbook seems to be the most anticipated computer after Apple’s failure to excite us at Macworld

- Android powered netbooks will surely be showcased

More details to be added as they come in…

The biggest news this week was the fact that Sony is joining the netbook era and its netbook is more a pocketbook called Sony Vaio P Series. In the new year, we will see what it’s all about.

It turns out that at CES 2009, touchscreen netbooks will rule the show. Surprisingly, everyone seems to be off the Apple netbook bandwagon as people see little odds of Apple releasing a MacBook Mini.

Amazon had “the best ever” holiday season at the expense of offline retailers who saw sales declining in these difficult economic times. It probably is no surprise to you that netbooks sold like hot cakes.

Naughty Intel is refusing to play nice with NVdia’s chip that would make netbooks faster and better. Caught in the act, Intel defended itself but we all know what’s really going on: Intel does not want to share the netbook pie with no one!

Intel may get to taste its own medicine in the form of a law suit. Psion, a UK company, is going around sending legal letters to all businesses that use the term netbook, a protected trademark they own according to their C&Ds. I sincerely hope that they will not come after us bloggers they promised.

So end the last weekly digest of 2008. In 2009 the netbook will be mightier than Obama so stay tuned by subscribing to the RSS feed. 

I wish you a great 2009 and may you fare well in these hard times.

Cheeeeerssss…