Jolicloud Confirms "Jolibook" Netbook Coming This Month, Price Still Unknown

Is Jolicloud preparing to sell a netbook of its own? That’s what we wondered about last month, when the cloud OS maker’s founder and CEO Tariq Krim tweeted some interesting pictures of a customized netbook.

Well, yes, they are. I actually caught up with Krim in Dublin two weeks ago – he showed me the device in action but didn’t want me to take pictures or shoot videos. He also kept mum on pricing, possible launch date and specs of the portable computer.

Now, in an email sent out to users (see below), Jolicloud sheds – a bit – more light on things.

Here’s what’s cooking:

– they’re effectively calling the computer a Jolibook (nothing on that site yet)
– release is planned for this month
– it’s a netbook that runs Jolicloud 1.1, which is the upcoming version of the OS
– it will come preloaded with Chromium, the open source version of Google Chrome
– the whole thing is HTML5-based, which I swear is quite impressive
– the Jolibook will boast a dual-core Atom N550 processor (1.5 GHz)
– it’ll come with a 250GB hard drive, a VGA port and multiple USB sockets
– it will be able to play 720p video

What we still don’t know:

– the exact launch date
– actual measurements (my guess is a 10.1 inch screen) and memory capacity
– the retail price (they say it will be “affordable”, which is what everyone always says)
– how and where the netbook will be distributed
– if people will be willing to spend money on a Jolibook before comparing with the first Google Chrome OS computers, which should hit the market in the near future

Founded in 2008, Jolicloud has raised $4.2 million from London-based Atomico Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners in July 2009.

We’re keeping tabs on their progress and will update as soon as the netbook goes on sale.