AT&T launches a trial program for netbooks

As The Register reported on Thursday, the largest land-line phone company and second-largest mobile service provider in America, AT&T, announced the implementation of a trial program of subsidized netbooks with two-year contracts for wireless and wired internet access, with initial buy-in starting cost of $50. The AT&T’s pilot program will be offered just trough eight company owned retail locations in Atlanta, Georgia, and another eight in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. AT&T is to find out whether customers will willingly buy their laptops like they buy AT&T’s mobile phones: cheap initially but rather expensive over the long period. Subsidized netbooks is a service supported by Linux leaders as a way to beat Microsoft's Windows in the growing netbook segment, and that's been discussed as a possible direction for Google.. However, it’s not clear whether AT&T will make Linux or Windows available on its netbooks, at the current stage. Those who subscribe will be enabled to choose from four of "ultra-portable mini laptops," usually known as netbooks: the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, and LG Xenia, each equipped with AT&T 3G wireless capability. All of them offered with Windows XP, but can run Linux. The buy-in prices will range from $49.99 to $249.99. The novelty will also include a half-hour of ConnecTech in-store technical support and a pre-installed copy of the company's Communication Manager software to manage both Wi-Fi and 3G connection. Moreover, Fast Access DSL adds wired connectivity in subscribers' homes. The offer is not limited to netbooks. AT&T is also providing with a 3G-equipped Lenovo X200 ThinkPad for $749.99 with the wired-and-wireless plan and $849.99 with the wireless-only plan.