India Broadband Forum

Guest

Intel Classmate notebook also called “netbook” is not just limited to developing countries like India, Indonesia etc. Intel has announced to launch its low-cost notebooks in developed countries like United States, France and United Kingdom.
Intel mainly got interest in the low-cost notebooks market from Asustek’s Eee PC which really stroked low-cost notebook market and is presently the leader in terms of sales as it managed to sell more the 350,000 units in first quarter of launch.
Originally, Intel Classmate notebook was developed for school students in emerging markets but Intel saw a good amount of response from outside market which made them introduce this notebook in developed countries.
Classmate PC is based on low-power Celeron M processor and has a 7 inch screen and can run Linux and Microsoft Windows XP, though XP is expected to be discontinued after June 2008.
Intel is presently working on new version of Classmate and is expected to launch the next model with its new upcoming processor “Atom” which has been specifically made for low-cost notebooks. Atom is expected to be used in 35 other laptops which are presently under development by various manufacturers.
Intel Classmate presently ranges between $250 to $ 300, depending on their configuration and is soon expected to be launched in developed countries.