Netbook prices start falling

The world's fourth largest computer brand said Friday morning that it will cut the price of its Aspire netbook from US$399 to US$349 and that its Linpus Linux Lite netbook will drop in price from US$379 to US$329.

Some think this could be just the start of a stampede by ultramobile laptop PC makers to compete on price in the suddenly very crowded low-cost netbook market.

Dozens of new entrants in the netbook PC category were shown at last week's Intel Developer's Forum conference in San Francisco.

An industry analyst contacted by a writer at the New York Times, Richard Doherty of electronics market analyst firm Envisioneering, predicted that prevailing netbook prices might fall further, down to US$299 or even as low as US$249 before the holidays sales season.

"They could cost the same as a cell phone – or lower," he said.

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