Get ready for the NOKIA Netbook push. There have been several carriers in Europe selling connected Netbooks for the last year or so. It looks like this is about to become a global trend. Nokia's CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said that Nokia will enter the notebook market yesterday in an interview with the Finnish media.
As Ubuntu has been ported to the OMAP 35xx processors I would place a small wager that at least one of Nokias offerings will be a Netbook based on the OMAP processor. Nokia already has development of the OMAP in it's 9xx Internet Tablet line and various phones.
The OMAP 35xx processor is based on the Cortex A8 and is quite an impressive peice of silicon. It will play 720p video and is able to excute most light office / home tasks without breaking a sweat. (link see video 2:35 to 4:05 min) The Cortex A9 will be even more impressive with multiple cores and the ability to playback and record 1080p video. (link) The Cortex A9 will sample later this year. Nokia is sure to be looking at this.
Via Reuters
"Industry has rumored about Nokia's possible plan to enter the PC industry since late last year, but Kallasvuo's comment was the first official admittance of such plans.
"We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging," Kallasvuo said.
"All leading mobile network operators and retailers are adding connected notebooks and netbooks to their portfolios alongside mobile phones. On this basis it comes as no surprise that Nokia is evaluating this segment," he said.
Update 27, Feb: There is and interesting artical at Arstechnica (link)
Image: Nokia 810 with Ubuntu Netbook Remix