Samsung to launch new Netbooks and new Smart Phones

Samsung Electronics plans to follow-up its NC10 netbook in the coming few months with a new model and expand its range of smart phones with models based on a number of different operating systems.

Samsung already offers phones based on the Windows Mobile, Symbian and Linux operating systems but perhaps most anticipated is an announcement from the company concerning a phone based on the Android OS developed by Google.

Samsung is a member of the Open Handset Alliance group formed around Android but has yet to show a phone running on the platform.

No other details were disclosed but a follow-up to the NC10 has been rumored for a while. It is also being reported that NC20 will be launched somewhere in February which will be based on Via Technologies' low-power Nano processor.

If true that would be a departure from most competing machines, which almost all run the same Intel Atom processor. It would also be somewhat of a coup for Via, which has struggled to gain share from Intel in the mainstream market for years.

The NC10 was launched in the latter half of 2008 and, like most netbooks. It is based on Intel's Atom processor and Windows XP. It has a 10.2-inch screen.

Netbooks have become popular with consumers, who are attracted by their compact size and low price. The market was created in 2007 when Asustek Computer launched its Eee PC and grew quickly to initially attract fellow Taiwanese competitors and then major laptop brands jumped into the market.

Earlier this month Sony launched its Vaio P-series machines which are netbook-size laptops but based on the higher-specification Intel Atom Z520 chip.

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