The good news for Nokia notebook hopefuls this morning is that the much anticipated Booklet 3G is now available for pre-order in Italy. Of course most of our readers don’t live in Italy, but this simply means that Nokia is getting ready to begin pushing its first laptop out to market. The bad news, and it is in fact pretty bad, is the pricing: a whopping €699. In case you’re wondering, that works out to about $1,021 USD. Now as you may recall, we were definitely digging the Booklet 3G when Nokia finally detailed it in full earlier this month. A grand for a 1.6GHz netbook with 1GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive is bordering on crazy though, even if it does actually come close to providing 12 straight hours of light usage on a single charge. The standard disclaimer of course, is that Nokia products are priced very differently for each region so odds are good that we’ll see a lower price point if and when the Booklet 3G hits US shores. Even if it drops down to $799-$899 territory however, Nokia may have a tough time moving product when similarly-spec’d netbooks can be had for $400. Will a $400 netbook come anywhere close to matching the styling, elegance or battery life of the Booklet? Absolutely not. Where the typical consumer is concerned however, we’re not so sure that matters.
[Via IntoMobile]
