August 29th, 2008
Netbooks just want to be free
At a trade show in Berlin, T-Mobile confirmed that it will sell an Asus Eee PC 901 netbook with built-in 3G. If the prices on these bundles come close to what’s been rumored, they could start to catch on.
In the UK, Asus already offers a free bundle that include an Eee PC 2GG and a USB modem with a two-year wireless broadband contract. Earlier this month, DigiTimes reported that both Asus and Acer were working on bundles with carriers in Europe and Japan. Though T-Mobile hasn’t announced the pricing, DigiTimes said Eee PC bundles in Europe (T-Mobile and TNT) and Japan (NTT Docomo and E-Mobile) would cost less than $2. There’s still no word on when we’ll see these kinds of deals in the U.S.
In its press release (translation here), T-Mobile said it had worked with Asus to develop a utility that connects to the 3G network seconds after the system boots up. And it promised up to five hours of battery life when using the 3G modem.
Acer hasn’t announced a bundle yet, but earlier this week the company cut prices on its netbook. The Aspire One is now $349 with Windows XP Home and $329 with Linux. HP is also offering $100 off some Mini-Note configurations; the lowest-priced configuration running Windows Vista now costs $600.
[Via Engadget]
John Morris is a former executive editor at CNET Networks and senior editor at PC Magazine. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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