Mobile phone operators, worried that consumers will defer buying the latest Mobile phones this Christmas, are entering the red-hot market for mini-laptops with their branded netbooks of their own. Taiwanese PC maker Asus pioneered the market for the paperback book-sized devices with the launch of its Eee PC, priced £180.

Mini laptops typically have small screens, keyboards and memory and often do not run Microsoft Windows, but are wi-fi enabled and popular with businessmen who want internet access and basic applications. The success of the sector has attracted HP and, most recently, mobile phone stalwart LG, which has just launched its own mini-laptop - the LG Netbook X110, which will retail for about £320.

Industry analysts see the telecommunications sector playing a significant role in driving sales of such products in the last quarter of the year. Mobile networks including Vodafone and 3 are thought to be preparing to launch mini-laptops of their own. Although netbooks can automatically detect free wi-fi hubs, mobile operators will be able to offer packages that give owners internet access anywhere via their networks. The market for netbooks has grown steadily this year. Industry analyst Karine Paoli, of research firm IDC, predicts that the deals mobile phone operators are likely to offer will dramatically grow the market in the fourth quarter. ‘While Asus continues to be the big driver in the market, the growth of sales through telco operators is expected to increase significantly later this year.

These products are strongly focused at the consumer market as opposed to business users, and in other countries we are seeing that they are targeted well at school-goers,' she said. Paoli added that the ability of mobile retailers to heavily promote their offerings meant that a new market for the products would open up. Initially these smaller laptops were seen as secondary devices for business users or people on the move regularly, but we know now there is a huge market for these in the UK's consumer market because at the moment they only make up about 5% of laptop sales,' she said. ‘There is a significant potential to grow this sector and with all the major brands likely to launch products later this year the mobile firms are looking to capitalise.'

M2YD NEWS