Thought Google's Android platform was only good for smartphones? No. 1 chipmaker Intel thinks differently, says VentureBeat. Apparently Intel, who already dominates the netbook scene with its Atom processor line, will begin mass producing Android-based netbooks, which could end up on the market as early as this year.

Like everyone in the tech industry, Intel ended 2008 with a whimper, at least in terms of revenue and profits. The chip maker's net income fell 88 percent to $234 million compared to a year prior, and sales for Q4 2008 were 23 percent lower than for the same quarter in 2007. But an exploding netbook market has helped Intel weather the storm, and netbook sales don't look to be slowing down any time soon.

While Linux has been gaining popularity on the desktop front, the open-source OS has fared better on netbooks. Android, which is based on Linux, could prove to be a viable alternative to both Windows and Linux thanks to its built-in functionality, and it only looks to get more popular as more handset manufacturers begin to implement the platform. By the time Intel is expected released Android-based netbooks (2010 is the most likely scenario), Google's Android could potentially have built up a following, potentially making it more attractive to netbook buyers than Linux and less expensive than Windows-based ultraportables.

Super Talent this week released an SSD upgrade intended for the Asus S101 Eee PC. The flash storage comes embedded on a SATA mini-PCIe board and served up in 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB capacities. All three models share the same read and write speeds -- up to 90MB/s and 55MB/s respectively -- offering modest performance.

"You can never have enough storage space," noted Joe James, Super Talent's director of marketing. "This is sure to be a popular upgrade for the S101."

And it probably will be, given that the interface should work with any netbok offering mini-PCIe storage expansion. Super Talent says all three models are shipping now, with the 64GB model retailing for approximately $169.

Despite a struggling economy, the worldwide PC market continues to grow, which is largely the result of mini-notebooks. The immense popularity in low-cost netbooks has also favored Intel, whose Atom CPUs contributed to record growth in the processor market in Q3 2008. But are consumers truly happy buying underpowered ultraportable PCs? According to a study by Biz360, an information-services company, customer satisfaction is falling short of the sales growth.

"The results of the analysis indicate that there is a lot of opportunity for improvement across the board for Netbook products," Biz360 concludes. "Netbook manufacturers also face a significant challenge with consumers whose expectations are based on years of desktop pc usage."

Surprisingly, Biz360 found that Acer ranks lowest in Net Advocacy (Biz360's proprietary metric that factors the positive and negative sentiment of individual comments), despite being the top seller in Q4 2008. Acer's Aspire one series had a 34 percent lower Net Advocacy than the average for all laptop brands.

Not so suprisingly, the number one complaint against netbooks has to do with performance, in which Biz360 found opinions to be "predominately negative."

Apple had a good year in notebook sales in 2008, but according to Forbes, Steve Jobs' health is just one of the troubles Apple will face in 2009. Like everyone else, the economy has taken its toll, sending Apple's share price down by more than 50 percent in the past six months from $171.81 to $82.33. But it's the emerging netbook market that could ultimately bite into Apple's revenue.

Despite Apple's success in the mobile PC market, average notebook prices are far below what you can expect to pay for a MacBook, and prices will only go lower as the economy continues to struggle. Acer's Aspire one, which sells for around $320, became the best selling netbook in 2008 putting Acer in fourth place in the PC market and ahead of Apple. And with Intel's next-gen Atom processor promising lower cost netbooks, Apple may find itself struggling to compete, whose lowest price notebook sells for $1,000.

Catch Forbes' full analysis here, then tell us what you think below.