AT&T Mobility’s new partnership with Lenovo and Ericsson to reduce the cost of embedded HSPA laptops to make them similar in cost to laptops that aren’t embedded could be the beginning of the laptop subsidy game in the US market. But how aggressive do operators want to be?

Laptops are flying off operator shelves in Europe, where the laptop subsidization game is running rampant. Orange in the U.K. is giving customers an HP notebook that runs on its HSDPA at no cost if a wireless data service bundle is purchased, and it has sold out of the laptops. The U.K. director of retail sales said she has been amazed at the demand for the service, which bundled 3 GB of data and 100 texts per month from the laptop. Vodafone and T-Mobile are also playing aggressively in the laptop game.

By FierceWireless.com   Read more>>

The HP EliteBook 2730p is a nice Tablet PC. It has a solid chassis and a great design. I like the stainless steel look, it’s very sleek. The 2730p is the update to the 2710p and has most of the same features. The 2730p has the upgraded 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor and a 80GB, 5400rpm hard drive though.

Right off the bat you notice the sleek appearance of this 12.1″ tablet. I enjoyed taking it to my friend’s houses because they were impressed with the design. I also like that the 2730p has both the pointing stick and a touchpad. Options are always nice.

By Tablet PC Review    Read more>>

Apple will turn its attention to its notebooks after letting its product lineup languish for more than a year without an update.

As always, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) gave only a teaser of what’s to come: In this case, the press invites to an event at its Cupertino campus on Tuesday, Oct. 14, bore an image of a laptop with the words, “The spotlight turns to notebooks.” And little else.

The rumor mill, though, is working overtime on what may be coming out.

By Internet News    Read more>>

The European Commission Wednesday gave the go-ahead for the takeover of Dutch computer maker Packard Bell by Acer of Taiwan, after a one-month examination of the deal.

In a statement Europe’s top competition authority said the deal “would not significantly impede effective competition,” even though the companies compete head-on in the markets for desktops and laptops for professional and private use.

“The market would remain competitive post-merger in all segments of the PC sector with established alternative suppliers such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Toshiba, Sony and Lenovo,” the Commission said.

By The New York Times    Read more>>