Apple Says No to Apple Netbook, iPhone Nano

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

In news that’s likely to disappoint those who’ve been harping on about an affordable Apple notebook, the company has said that they will not be releasing a netbook and while they’ll be watching the market, they won’t be going near it for the time being.

Just fantasy for now

While Steve said the company had no such plans for a netbook back in autumn, the rumors raged on, right through winter. Prior to the refresh, many speculated that the company was about to release a low-cost notebook and despite the fact that no Apple netbook was announced, fans still hoped.

“We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk,” Jobs said during an Apple earning call in 2008.

COO Tim Cook this week repeated the company’s stance on netbooks, as well as the possibility of a low-cost iPhone or iPhone Nano. Something that the blogosphere has been talking about since just before the holidays.

We expressed doubts about the idea of an iPhone Nano claiming that it would be too small and wouldn’t sell. According to PCWorld, Tim Cook stressed during the company’s earnings call that Apple won't produce low-end phones and that it doesn't want to be the market leader when it comes to the number of unit sold. Apple wants to make the best phone possible, period.

So that’s the end of the iPhone Nano and an Apple netbook. We have to say we’re a little relieved. We’re getting netbook fatigue at this stage.

Jane McEntegart
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Pei-chen
    An Apple netbook is like Mercedes C-class; built for people that can only afford the logo and not the car. I guess many people that have no problem dropping a grand on Apple toys are having problem coping with the recession.
    Reply
  • BA Barracus
    “We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk,” Jobs said during an Apple earning call in 2008.

    Cause you have to subtract the Apple tax probably 2 bones. that will leave you with 300 bucks to work with.
    Reply
  • Nik_I
    Pei-chenAn Apple netbook is like Mercedes C-class; built for people that can only afford the logo and not the car. I guess many people that have no problem dropping a grand on Apple toys are having problem coping with the recession.
    actually i would think a more fair comparison would be the mercedes B class. that's not a real mercedes.
    Reply
  • Tindytim
    “We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk,” Jobs said during an Apple earning call in 2008.

    All that shiny plastic and buffed aluminum is expensive nowadays.

    Just take a look at Tom's SBM, Steve Jobs doesn't know what he's talking about. If you can build a system that will play Crysis for $625, you could easily build a system that can run all 12 programs that run on Mac OSX.

    If apple didn't over price their components, they could easily make a sub-$1000 system.
    Reply
  • heygeo
    LOL.. wait.. isnt OSX suppose to be able to run on a timex sinclair processor and 14bytes of ram!... read between the lines.. we dont want to make a product that will cannabalize our existing user base because most of our users arent really using the performance we force them to pay for and would be perfectly happy with a netbook.
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    it wouldn't work anyway. apple would sell it for the price of a full laptop or maybe more. so only the apple followers would find it the cheapest netbook on the market LOL
    Reply
  • androticus
    There is something morally energizing about a company that says "We don't want to sell the most widgets, we only want to sell great widgets." Focusing a company on making products of a certain level of quality is an excellent business strategy -- trying to mix "let's make something rock-bottom-cheap" into that would be like a virus that could eventually destroy the high-end line in a "death by a thousand tiny cheapifications" kind of effect.
    Reply
  • KyleSTL
    most of our users arent really using the performance we force them to pay for
    Nomination for quote of the day.
    Reply
  • tayb
    Right. If you want to make the best phone on the market how about shoring up a couple of software issues that have been plaguing the iPhone since it was launched almost two years ago.

    No camera zoom.
    No MMS.
    No copy and paste.
    No voice dialing.
    No video recording.
    No landscape texting.

    None of the above requires any hardware changes and have been problems since the iPhone was first released. Instead of TRYING to have the best phone on the market why don't you fix the one you currently DO have on the market. Stop giving features you THINK people want and give them what THEY want.
    Reply
  • Pei-chen
    Nik_Iactually i would think a more fair comparison would be the mercedes B class. that's not a real mercedes.The C and even the E aren't real Mercedes.
    Reply