At CES, Motorola showed off a phone that docks with a laptop-like gadget.
It's basically a small laptop with a screen and some built-in apps, but it only works when the corresponding Motorola phone is plugged in. (It sort of reminded us of the Palm Foleo, which never launched.)
When we first heard about it, we said it was dead on arrival.
And that was before we knew the price!
Today, AT&T announced that the Motorola Atrix "laptop dock" will cost $499.99 by itself. Five hundred dollars! For a laptop that stops working when you unplug your phone from it.
You can also buy it right away when you're buying the phone and get a discount: You can buy the phone (normally $200) and the laptop dock for $500 total, after a $100 rebate, with a two-year service contract to a "Data Pro smartphone data plan" AND a tethering add-on.
We still don't think this will appeal to many people. Especially because you can get a real netbook for $300-$500 that doesn't require a Motorola phone to be plugged into it in order to work. Or an iPad for $500. Or a MacBook Air for $1,000. Or most PC laptops for less than that.
As we said, dead on arrival. We just can't see many people spending so much for this feature.
Read: Here's Why Apple's iPad Will Dominate The Tablet Market For Years
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