
Apple’s Tim Cook: Why don’t we make netbooks? Because they suck - peter123
http://venturebeat.com/2009/04/22/apples-tim-cook-why-dont-we-make-netbooks-because-they-suck/
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jokermatt999
He disses netbooks, saying most have terrible quality, and gives that as a
reason why Apple won't make one. To me, that seems very backwards. If the
state of the netbook is so horrible, wouldn't an Apple "done-right, just
works" netbook be an excellent idea? If the competition is terrible, despite
demand being high, then it seems like that's the perfect time to enter the
market.

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elai
The big draw of netbooks is cheapness, and apple likes avoiding cheapness.

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swannodette
A more accurate analysis is that they dislike low margin markets.

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unalone
Apple could make a decent netbook that runs OS X, enter the market, and make a
killing. They have the power to let computers run OS X, and OS X doesn't need
a lot of RAM to work well. Apple has enough expertise in miniaturization that
they could make a pretty good netbook without much of an effort on their part.

The problem is that anything Apple makes impulsively will be below Apple's
standards. Apple refuses to launch products that aren't either great or
potentially great in the future. They sell computers on their reputation
alone. So if they ever enter the "small computing" market, they'll do it after
a lot of thought, and likely only if they can instantly change the public's
perception of netbooks so that they have a chance of creating a potential
monopoly like they've got with the iPod/iTunes and like they're angling
towards with the iPhone/app store.

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elai
And the smaller keyboard sizes are actually a big plus for the peitie women of
the world (which is a large amount of them in asia).

And the vaio P series shows you can make a fullsized keyboard netbook.

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quoderat
The iPhone and iPod Touch are already better netbooks than most netbooks.

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Jem
I use my netbook for coding on the go (so that I don't have to carry around my
heavy, expensive laptop). Could I realistically spend an hour coding on the
iPhone or iPod? No.

