Qualcomm has collaborated on a miniature notebook with Linux and plans similar efforts for Windows Mobile 7, the company has revealed today. Designed largely by Inventec, the Linux system will cost $300 but should have a Qualcomm 3G chipset to give it wide-area wireless access without buying extra hardware. the latter's senior VP Luis Pineda acknowledges that the PC hasn't been made official but promises a launch sometime before the end of 2008.

Windows Mobile 7, however, may change the reliance on Linux, the executive notes. Pineda hints that the next major version of the Microsoft handheld OS will be friendlier to companies wanting to use Windows in a very small notebook, particularly for cellphone designers branching out into designing notebooks or crossover devices like ultra-mobile PCs. HTC's Advantage is considered an early example of the concept.

Microsoft isn't expected to unveil Windows Mobile 7 in earnest until early 2009.