Yesterday we and many other sites covering netbooks reported that Coby Electronics was on the verge of offering their own line of netbooks for a stunningly low $99.95. It almost sounded too good to be true, and according to this post at Ars Technica, it may well have been.

The lengthy article presents a good argument for the claims being false, with the main comment to pay attention to being this: “Rubin contacted Coby Electronics himself, and was told by the company’s PR representatives that “this story, or any announcement regarding a netbook, was not (emphasis theirs) initiated, condoned, or approved by Coby Electronics.” The story itself was dismissed as erroneous.

Well, that isn’t promising for the plausibility of the whole story. And while the article doesn’t confirm that Cody won’t be releasing these discount netbooks, it presents a good argument that seems to render the idea unlikely. Hopefully we can get some confirmation one way or another soon.