RadioShack Offers $100 3G Netbooks

Borrowing a page from the cell phone playbook, RadioShack will begin offering heavily subsidized netbooks for customers who will lock into a two-year contract.

True to rumors that have been circulating for a week now due to leaked ads, RadioShack on Thursday began offering the popular Acer Aspire One netbook for only $100 – with strings attached.

Much as cell phone carriers heavily subsidize phones for signing contracts, RadioShack requires customers to enter into a two-year data plan subscription to fetch the deeply discounted price on the netbook. The specially prepared Aspire One has a built-in HSDPA modem for access to AT&T’s 3G network.

The least expensive DataConnect plans available cost $60 a month, with a monthly data cap of 5GB. RadioShack will reportedly continue offering the 3G netbooks at the $100 price point until Christmas.