You can now get 3G Internet with your new expensive Sony Lifestyle P-Series PC netbook if you sign a contract with Verizon. No, you do not get the netbook free of charge à la mobile phone. 

See: Sony Vaio P on Verizon- $200 rebate

- 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!

- 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…

Well it was a matter of time! After hating on netbooks for so many months, Sony has indicated that it will enter the mini laptop market according to the Manila Bulletin Online. 

It’s never too late. After seeing the netbook craze, Sony has smartned up and will be offering mini Vaios sometimes in early 2009. I wish that I could say that I never saw this coming but I can’t. The netbook movement is hard to ignore and it seems that those who chose to will be left behind and their sales and stock prices will be punished as a result.

Who‘s next? 

See: Sony unleashes new IT products, bares plan to enter netbook mart

For instance, we may talk about the Apple Mac Air which is not a netbook but pretty light, small and portable. It’s just the price tag that’s so different because it has some pretty advanced and powerful specs.

We have to highlight the Sony VAIO VGN-TT15GNR, a smooth and sexy ultraportable laptop. It could be dubbed a super netbook because of its price and power specs. It really looks cute and dangerous, a combo that men all over the world caveat. For more see: Sony VAIO VGNTT15GNR review

Now we wonder how Sony is going to make netbooks (see: A Sony Netbook After All?) and price them cheaper.

Remember the report that Sony was confused by netbooks and was not too keen (Sony Staying Put on the Netbook Craze)? Well, forget about it. It seems that it has something under its’ sleeves.

“The above image may or may not be a netbook-type computer from Sony. According to some mysterious FCC documents (which, conveniently, I can’t find anywhere) there are two separate model number” says CrunchGear. See the image in question at: Is this Sony’s upcoming netbook?

Update from jkOnTheRun: That Sony “netbook” might not exactly be a netbook

““The NetPC market is still at an early stage,” Nicolas Barendson, head of the VAIO Business Unit at Sony UK, told PC Retail. “Even if significant quantities are currently sold, many people are still confused about the real added value of such products, since a netbook isn’t really a PC, and does a lot of things a phone can do. We are careful looking at this market, but at this stage we have nothing to announce.” “ - Sony claims growing netbook market is ‘confusing

Sony is making a mistake not to jump into the netbook market. It can either chose to join in and offer products to consumers because although the market is uncertain, we’ll never know what will happen in the future. If it blows up, Sony will be a Johnny-Came-So-Late that it will be a laggard.

On the other hand, Sony could just chose not to get into that market and focus on more powerful laptops because that market is not going anywhere.

Standing still and watching what happens is pretty dangerous in my opinion. It’s like making a decision to cross a busy street. If you decide not to cross, stand clear off the road. If you decide to cross, make your sprint. Whatever you do, don’t stand in the middle of the street undecided!

Update: It now seems that Sony may have changed its mind (A Sony Netbook After All?)