It looks like the reports of the Everex Cloudbook's delay have been (not so greatly) exaggerated. While Everex was unable to meet its original release date of Jan 25th, the company's website now says that you'll be able to pick up a Cloudbook from Wal-Mart or ZaReason on Feb 15th.

While Everex is hardly the only company shooting to take on the Eee PC in the low-cost mini-laptop market, the Cloudbook has been getting a lot of attention for a few reasons.

1. If Everex can meet its projected release date, the Cloudbook will be the first low cost subnotebook to hit store shelves since Asus showed that there was a demand for such devices, even in developed nations.
2. Everex has already achieved some success selling a $200 desktop PC at Wal-Mart stores that runs that same gOS (Ubuntu-based Linux) operating system that will be installed on the Cloudbook.
3. On paper, the Cloudbook looks like an attractive alternative to the Eee PC because it has a faster processor and far more storage with a 30GB hard drive.
   

On the other hand, the Cloudbook has the same 800 x 480 pixel 7 inch screen as the Eee PC and a similarly cramped keyboard. There's also no trackpad to speak of. Instead there's a tiny and awkward looking pointer device. But I won't pass judgment until I've tried it. My first laptop back in 1995 actually had one of those pencil-eraser style pointers instead of a trackpad and I got used to it pretty quickly.

[via Engadget]