Nokia Enters the Netbook Market With the Booklet 3G

Long a major player in the cell phone arena, Nokia has officially thrown its hat into the netbook ring. The new Booklet 3G is getting a lot of press for both its specs and deceivingly-low price tag. While the Booklet 3G has a sparkly retail price of just $299, the small print of that deal reads that you’ll have to tie yourself down with a two-year AT&T service contract–just like a cell phone. That agreement will run you in the neighborhood of $60/month, so that sweet $299 netbook just cost you over $1700. Not such a sweet deal. Alternately you could buy an unsubidized version–but that will double your initial cost up to $599. No matter how you cut it, you’ll be paying for this one. Of course, if you already plan to sign-up for a comparable data plan, you can simply take advantage of the low buy-in.

The pricing scheme of the Booklet 3G has already been done to death, so on to the specs. The 10.1-inch netbook features a durable, aluminum frame, built-in A-GPS and a 12-hour battery. It runs Windows 7. It will be available exclusively through Best Buy. As the holidays approach, Nokia will supposedly offer additional pricing plans that may make the Booklet 3G a bit more attractive. We’d imagine that if they don’t do it voluntarily first, they’ll be forced to later down the line. [via Slippery Brick]