Report: Touchscreen Apple Netbook in Q309
The last few months have been fraught with rumors about whether or not Apple will be jumping on the bandwagon and offering a netbook along with world+dog. While said rumors have died down as of late, expect a fresh round with a report that Apple could be releasing a netbook in Q3 of this year.
Netbook gossip peaked in the months following Apple’s update to its notebook line in October. Despite the fact that the company didn’t announce a netbook at the event (the closest the company has come in terms of pricing was to offer the white MacBook for $999), people still debated the possibility that the Cupertino company would offer a MacBook Nano.
Around the same time that a bunch of dodgy pictures of an iPhone Nano were doing the rounds, Chief Operating Officer at Apple, Tim Cook, reiterated the company’s stance on netbooks as well as a stripped down, smaller iPhone. 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 units sold. Apple wants to make the best phone possible, period. This, coupled with Steve Jobs’ reaction to the same question (“We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk,”) did a pretty good job of squashing the rumors.
DigiTimes today reports (citing a Chinese-language Commercial Times report) that Taiwan-based Wintek will supply touch screens for a new Apple netbook which is to be manufactured by Quanta computer. The Commercial Times says shipments will start in the third quarter this year.
That aside, there's not much else to go on. What does everyone think? We’re taking the sizable grain of salt approach, as per usual. Check out the full report on DigiTimes.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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vaskodogama MacBook Pro - Yes for design and No for Price.Reply
MacBook Nano - No No No No to everything! -
vaskodogama MacBook Pro - Yes for design and No for Price.Reply
MacBook Nano - No No No No to everything! -
hellwig The problem everyone has with netbooks is they are too small and underpowered. Netbooks run only the most basic of apps (what they are designed for), and have smaller keyboards (necessary to keep overall machine size down). Personally, I use my CloudBook quite often for chatting or browsing the internet. Anything else, and I move to my desktop.Reply
That said, if Apple ever does release a netbook, it will be small and underpowered, and every will praise Apple for their ingenuity. "Amazing, I love the tiny 6-inch screen on my Apple iPad".
"The tiny keys on the keyboard are perfect for dissuading my tendancy to touch type!"
"I don't miss running my apps, that's what my iPhone is for!"
It doesn't matter what apple does or doesn't do, apple fanbois and girls will praise apple for their cool designs, and ignore the rest of the world as it calls Apple out for doing what it always does: denying the existence of said product just to build hype, then releasing it to the waiting, outstretched hands of people with too much money and not enough common sense.
Steve Jobs and apple denied they had any plans to enter the cell phone market, then a year later, BAM! iPhone. -
erikstarcher Not only will it be underpowered (like all netbooks), it will have a non-removable battery, and cost over $800.00. The only good thing about it is that it might use the ion platform.Reply -
m3kt3k I think it just goes to show lemmings flock to anything white. I bet there homes are REALLLLY boring.Reply -
Marcus Yam Like Jane mentioned in the article, a report such as this should be taken with a grain of salt. But you know for sure that Apple is watching the netbook market like a hawk, since that's one area of growth in the PC industry.Reply
The thing is that Apple's products are split clearly between the CE side and the computing side. Sure, a netbook is a computer but could Apple make any supposed netbook straddle between being an OS X device vs. one that just syncs to iTunes? Maybe... -
tayb Take a regular netbook, give it a shiny dress, raise the price $400, load OS X 10.5, and you have a MacBook Nano.Reply -
seboj Reply“We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk”
Maybe you should have a real computer builder take a look at that for ya. :) -
SneakySnake Apple's idea of junk is in the looks department, they honestly couldn't care less about the hardware. As long as they can through an intel and nvidia sticker on the box everyone (normal consumers) thinks that the computer will blaze through everythingReply