Netbooks expected from Sony

picturebook

Laptop got a chance to speak with Sony VP of Technology Products, Mike Abary, and got him to admit that the company is working on a netbook, saying “Stay tuned… We are letting the pioneers in the market make the mistakes. Sony has to participate because consumers are our core competency.” I’ve spoken with Abary in the past and he’s a pretty straight shooter, so a line of netbooks from Sony seems realistic.

Add to that this article from DigiTimes a few days back saying that “netbooks from Sony and Lenovo are also expected to start shipping” and we’re getting warmer. The whole “waiting for the pioneers to make mistakes” might actually be a good idea, too, now that the market is all but flooded with netbooks.

It is kind of odd, however, that Sony wasn’t able to just push out a netbook right away since the company’s been specializing in tiny notebooks for so long. The Sony Picturebook, seen in the above photo, is from 2003. Seems like Sony could just add a trackpad and an Atom processor and – boom – there’s your netbook.