Netbooks, smart phones: Is more convergence ahead for mobiles?

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While cellphones and computers in general have suffered sales setbacks recently, high-end smart phones and low-end netbook computers remain two of the hottest electronic devices on the market. Might the gap between them someday be filled by a device that combines the best of each? In some ways, the two products are already beginning to merge. The cost is becoming similar, with the priciest smart phones now more expensive than the cheapest netbooks (about $300). Wireless carriers are beginning to add netbook plans, plunging the cost of a netbook with a service plan to as low as $50, similar to discounted phones if users sign up for a contract. Manufacturers are beginning to put smart-phone chips and operating systems, such as Google's Android, into netbooks. Meanwhile, netbook manufacturers such as Asustek are planning to make smart phones. Both products are trying to satisfy the same need "to have something small, portable, and inexpensive with you that is always connected" to the Internet, says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. But a big gap in size remains. Netbooks fit in a large purse or a backpack, but not a pocket. That is leading to speculation that a company such as Apple might step in with a mid-sized "tablet" or "iPod-plus" device as early as next month.


Netbooks, smart phones: Is more convergence ahead for mobiles?