Verizon Wireless started taking orders for the Motorola XOOM Android tablet today. As expected, the tablet will run $799 if you go with the contract-free option, while customers who sign up for a 2 year data plan will be able to pick it up for $599. The good news is that Verizon has dropped a requirement that you register for…

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A few years ago Qualcomm coined the term “smartbook” to describe netbook-like mini-laptops with smartphone-like chips that enabled 3G connectivity, always on internet access, and all-day battery life. Then a company called Smartbook AG, which had been selling laptops in Germany under the Smartbook moniker cried foul and said that Qualcomm was violating its trademark. Flash forward to… well, now…

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Last year HP applied for a trademark on the term “PalmPad” and the world groaned a little bit at the thought that this was what the company would call its upcoming webOS tablet. Last week it started to look like HP hadn’t settled on a name, thanks to a trademark application for “HP TouchPad.” Now it looks like that was…

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While T-Mobile hasn’t made any official announcements about an upcoming tablet bearing the wireless carrier’s own name, the folks at PocketNow just uncovered a set of trademark applications from T-Mobile for a G-Surf, G-Slate, and Reader’s cafe. The G-Slate certainly sounds like some sort of tablet computer, and in fact, the trademark applications for the G-Slate and G-Surf mention”cellular phones…

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It’s been a few weeks since we’ve heard any rumors about Research in Motion’s upcoming BlackBerry Tablet, which may end up with the awkward name of “BlackPad.” So I guess we were about due for a series of rumors. First up, Fudzilla reports that its sources say the tablet will be announced in late November and ship before the holidays….

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HP is working on a tablet. We know that. It will probably use a version of the Palm WebOS operating system. We’re pretty sure we know that too. What we don’t know is what HP will call the thing… although a recent FCC filing may shed some light on the matter. MyHPMini notes that HP has filed for a US…

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Remember Smartbook? No, not the class of mini-laptops with ARM-based processors and 3G mobile broadband connectivity. I’m talking about the German company called Smartbook that was using the name before chip-maker Qualcomm decided to differentiate its platform fro netbooks by creating a new name implying a cross between a smartphone and a notebook or netbook. While the German Smartbook has…

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In an effort to differentiate ARM-powered, always-on, low-power mini-laptops from the more traditional PC-like netbooks that have flooded the market over the past two years, Qualcomm started suggesting we refer to the new machines as “smartbooks” earlier this year. The folks at German company Smartbook AG weren’t too pleased with that, and a few months ago the two companies got…

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Over the past few days, the battle over the term “smartbook” has heated up a bit. A few months ago chip-maker Qualcomm started using the term to describe low power, 3G-enabled mini-laptops using ARM-based processors like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset. But a German company called Smartbook is working to protect the term, and a German court has ordered Qualcomm to stop…

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The fight over the term “smartbook” is starting to look about as contentious as the battle for “netbook.” The difference is that the Germany company that owns the trademark for Smartbook might have a better case. It’s currently selling products under the name and it’s actively working to protect the trademark just a few months after chip-maker Qualcomm tried to…

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Now that we can all use the word “netbook” safely without fear of a lawsuit, a related trademark holder has come out of the woodwork. A German company called Smartbook has sent a letter to Sascha at Netbook News asking him to remove all references to the word “smartbook” on his site within 2 weeks. Sascha also runs NetbookNews.de, a…

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There have been rumors flying about a possible Nokia netbook for the last few months. Now a Finnish blog called Puhelinvertailu has uncovered a series of trademark registrations that could give some clues about upcoming Nokia products, including a Nokia laptop computer — which could quite possibly be a netbook. Among the trademark terms was one for “Booklet,” which describes…

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