I can't imagine Apple producing a netbook. What I can imagine is Apple producing a foldable iPhone with a 7" screen and video chat capability: a small laptop with a 3G (and therefore ubiquitous) Internet connection, an App Store, and an in-facing camera. It would be a transitional step toward a hypothetically even more tumultuous change: an App Store for OSX itself.
Who is going to get developers to write 3 versions of their app -- one for the iPhone, one for the iPhone Mega, and one for normal OS X? It won't be hard, but a lot of testing will be required. Will developers be willing to do it?
This in my opinion is why Java Me on mobile phones is a terrible platform to develop for... It's incredibly annoying to try and produce an application for several different handsets.
In terms of portability, I don't see the value of taking a few inches off a Macbook Air.
The MBA already fits into all backpacks, briefcases and even those funny bags women carry around. It's very thin and light. You can't make it small enough to avoid the need for a backpack/briefcase, ie. it won't fit in your pocket, so what are you trading the screen real-estate for?
The only sensible answer would be 'money', ie. if it'd be less expensive, but Apple / S.J. says they don't know how to make it cheaper.
The point of netbooks is that they are cheap; being small is just a side effect. There are different kinds of small: reducing width/height makes it cheaper, but reducing thickness makes it more expensive. If Apple was going to make a netbook, the Air wouldn't be the place to start. It would make more sense to start with the MacBook and reduce the screen/keyboard size, remove the optical drive, replace the unibody with plastic, and keep the thickness the same (or even increase it).
I remember a quote where steve jobs described the netbook space as "a race to the bottom".
This is true to one extent and to another extent I don't think this market is within apple's laptop scope. Especially considering pricepoints and the recently released macbook pros.
My thoughts about the Air (though I don't really know) was that they sort of put it out there & let Moore's Law get to work.
It's not a very practical product as is.
I imagine the attractiveness of a netbok to Apple is that it is an addition. You can have a laptop or desktop (probably not both) & a netbook & an iphone.
If it is a non cannibalising category, then it's right up Apple's game. They know & love small. It's another opportunity to brag about OSX as Windows isn't right for these. Most importantly, they know & love out-of-the-box.
There's a real market for these. It's certainly not the giant hardware guys that created it. They're supplying happily enough, but it came out of the margins. Microsoft sure isn't pushing it, these are a nightmare for them. Linux isn't working out. Who's left?
Cheap is part of the job description here. Cheap, small & out of the box. Apples is very good at 2 out of those 3. It's also another in for selling full Macs.
"Linux isn't working out"
Why do you say that. Linux has the highest share of this market than any other place. More than 50% and Ubuntu is making a special Vendor only distribution just for Netbooks. Only recently is XP being offered and this as a direct response to Linux.
Well Linux had the first mover advantage. But it seems to be losing ground. I was in two chain retailers recently & neither carried any linux netbooks (but 3-4 windows each). I've seen a couple of these recently:http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22362/53/
And Windows is gaining this ground with a 7 year old product that isn't suitable for this job. All the while cursing every sale they make. They're not exactly gung-ho excited about making brilliant netbooks. But they're still taking over.
If no one challenges & the demand persists, MS may eventually actually come out with some Windows that is suited to the job.
Nice analysis. A friend mentioned to me that the macbooks have gotten bigger over the years and there was on that was 12 inches (?) that they no longer make. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced a new small notebook with a heavy price tag targeted at filling that void.
A netbook would be cool, but I doubt it would come cheap from Apple. They also tend to be a little think (proportionally), so if they made a netbook Air that would be amazing.
They used to make a 12" PowerBook that is still regarded as one of the best form factors Apple ever made. I doubt they'll start that again, though, or trend any smaller because as the article mentions, Apple already has too many competing products. In addition to the Macbooks the article lists, I think the other end of the spectrum is the iPod/iPhone. These are essentially tiny netbooks; able to do most of what I would want a netbook for in an even smaller form factor. So I too strongly doubt that Apple will release a netbook.
I disagree. A netbook is not closer to an iphone then a laptop. I can't see too many carrying a netbook & a laptop. I can see many carying a netbook & an iphone.
A friend mentioned to me that the macbooks have gotten bigger over the years and there was on that was 12 inches (?) that they no longer make.
Part of the "increase in size" is just pretend. Modern notebooks are not as large as their quoted screen sizes might imply. As 4x3 and 5x4 aspect displays have given ground to widescreen displays, display sizes of given diagonal measurement have dropped.
To wit: a 14" widescreen (16:10 or 16:9) is not as large (does not have as much area) as an old-fashioned 14" 4x3 screen, which in turn is not as large as an old-fasioned 5x4 screen. A modern 15.4" widescreen is about the same size, overall, as an old-fashioned 14" screen. Apple's current 13.3" Macbook has about the same screen size as did its old 12" notebook. It is only effectively "larger" for widescreen content that would produce black bars on the old 12" squarer screen.
More comparisions: a modern 22" widescreen is about the same size as an old-fashioned 5x4 19" screen. A modern 19" widescreen is about the same size as an old-fashioned 5x4 17" screen.
IMHO all they need to do is make a really cool portable keyboard that works via BlueTooth with the iPhone and iPod Touch. Instant netbook functionality.
Quote from the article: By controlling the software that can be loaded and the hardware that can be attached, Apple's device will be simpler, easier to use and more reliable than a PC
This smells like the dreaded "Trusted Computing" with its hardware engraved DRM.
Until people are free to install whatever apps they want to install & use any operating system of their choice; Apple or any company that controls what software can be installed isn't going to derive much success from their computers.
No, it just means that an OS that only allows you to install apps is going to be more reliable than an OS that allows app installers to overwrite parts of the OS itself.
