Netbooks, so far, haven't really been interesting. They are cheap - and of course that's interesting in and of itself - but they don't really change what you can do in the world. Their battery life, shape, weight and notably software have been much the same as expensive laptops, just with a little less in the value bundle. Which is perfectly fine for 90% of laptop uses.
That's set to change, though. New software, assuming the network, and consumer packaged for simplicity, sociality and "cultural computing" more than "admin and creation" style computing is just about to surface. Fitted with an app-store and simplified, the netbook assumes more an appliance role than a general purpose computing role.
The hardware vendors are adapting to that idea also; moving towards ultra low power consumption and enough battery life that you simply stop thinking about the battery.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is busy squandering this opportunity. They simply don't get this type of environment, apparently - and are intent on office-ifying and desktop-ifying the metaphor. Where Bill Gates "a computer on every desk" was once a vision of not having computing only in corporations and server parks it is now severely limiting. Why do I need a desk to have a computer?