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Just days after confirming plans to enter the netbook market, Nokia released additional details of the effort including the name of its forthcoming gadget: Booklet 3G.
The netbook will sport HSPA and WiFi connectivity, a 10-inch glass HD-ready screen, up to 12 hours of battery life and will run Microsoft's Windows operating system and Intel's Atom processor.
That Nokia's netbook will use Microsoft's Windows operating system is notable considering Nokia's investments in Linux for its Internet Tablet line of devices as well as rumors that it would use Google's Android platform for netbooks.
Nokia has long rested its smartphone efforts on the Symbian OS, but it appears to be changing its platform strategies as it enters new device markets.
The netbook market is expected to grow this year by more than 127% over 2008 levels, to 26 million devices.
Nokia said it was entering the market with a clear focus. “We are going into this eyes wide open,” Kai Oeistaemoe, Nokia's executive vice president of devices, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Anything we do is planned to be a profitable business.”
He did not specify whether Nokia was making the device itself. The company said it would release more detailed specifications, pricing and availability September 2 at its Nokia World event.
The “Booklet” moniker is not entirely a surprise. In July, reports surfaced of Nokia trademarks for “Booklet,” along with Cseries and Xseries, which were thought to be new classes of devices.
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Phil Goldstein, FierceWireless