Sharp NetWalker walks into stores

It was reported that Sharp's miniature version of netbook or, as some call it a smartbook, went on sale in selected shops in Japan. The price tag is 44,800 Japanese yen or roughly just a little bit shy of $450 US dollars. Users are required to buy a USB modem to connect it to the Internet while on the go. eMobile is happy to subsidize the device by 40,000 yen if you agree to sign up for a 2-year data contract. It's nice, but no thank you. Why should I pay for the third Internet connection? I have broadband at home and I pay for data plan on my smartphone. Now they are pitching this beauty to get more money from me. Obviously, somebody doesn't get the pains of their customers. I'd consider paying some premium additionally to my smartphone data plan if they allowed me to tether it to my laptop. That will make me a happy camper.

Sharp NetWalker Spec
Model:	Sharp NetWalker PC-Z1
Carrier:	eMobile
CPU:	Freescale i.MX515
Memory:	515MB
Display:	5inch WSVGA Touch TFT LCD
Display res:	1,024X600, 65K colors
Input:	68-key board, touch panel
Internal memory:	4GB (2GB user allocated)
WLAN:	802.11b/g
memory card slot:	microSD/SDHC
USB:	USB2.0
Battery life:	10hours
Dimensions:	161.4 x 108.7 x 24.8
Weight:	409g
OS / Platform:	Linux Ubuntu 9.04 (ARM ver., Sharp modified)
Browser:	Mozilla Firefox
Email:	Mozilla Thunderbird
Organizer:	Mozilla Sunbird
Office docs:	OpenOffice.org 3.0
Graphics:	OpenOffice.org 3.0 Drawing
Media player:	Totem
Text editor:	gedit
Viewer:	Document Viewer
Price tag:	JPY44,800

Source: Sharp