The original 7″ Asus EEE currently sells for $249 at target … a $50 price drop in the next 3 months would not be surprising.

This is not exactly big news …

At $399 the mini 1000 would break down to about $16.62 per month over 24 months.

On the other hand, you could also pay full price for that netbook and get a $15 plan discount off the $60/month for 2 years. Your savings are about the same.

The first option doesn’t get me anything, since I am paying full price every month, I’m locked in for 2 years, and after that time the netbook would have minimal value and already be replaced by newer/better models. That free netbook is now worth nothing, and I’ve been paying full price all the time.

The second option would work better if I choose to keep the service past 2 years and extend my savings, assuming that the discount is retained. However, if the discount is only for a 2 year term, and I am reverted back to paying full monthly prices after 2 years, then it’s not much of an incentive, since I must now pay more per month and be stuck with an old netbook (all the while newer customers get the discount with newer netbooks).

Capitalism is wonderful isn’t it?

I’d guess we’ll be talking about the Redfly in the past tense before too long.

At that point, you’d be nuts to lock yourself into a contract.