Comments on: Does Apple Netbook repudiation signal a shift?

Apple COO Tim Cook's negative comments about Netbooks reflect an incipient school of thought.

[Maccess]

When Apple disses a novel product category, they usually have a product for that category coming within three to six months.

Apple's no stranger to cut price ultraportables--They've already sold several:

The Powerbook 100, cut-price ultraportable sibling to the 140 and 170
The Powerbook Duos, cut-price aternatives to mainline Powerbooks.

The Powerbook 2400, a full featured ultraportable (but not cut-price. The cut price model of that generation was the 1400)

The chiclet iBooks, cut-price "more portables" than the 15" Powerbooks.

The 12" Powerbook (full price) and iBooks (cut price), ultraportables compared iwth the 15" and 17"

[kcotham]

None of the machines you mentioned are "netbooks", nor could they be defined as one. Price and size alone are not what makes a netbook. It's the use of a limited power processor and the ultra-small size, with a usually low price, altogether that makes a netbook. Until Apple makes a very small (too small in my opinion), Atom (or similar low speed, ultra power efficient powered, extremely limited machine, then none of their machines, past or present could be called "netbook".

[artistjoh]

Is it rude of me to ask when these cut price ultra-portables were made and sold? Model numbers like "100", "140", and "170" suggest to me that dark time when Apple was benefiting from the business managerial expertise that had the company heading rapidly towards bankruptcy. If so then Apple's corporate culture would remember this as something to avoid as much of their recent success has been attributed to Steve Jobs rationalization of product lines when he returned which started with him canceling low cost/low profit options such as Mac clones. I would be surprised if cut price laptops weren't part of his pruning strategy too.

[jCounsel]

While none of these are "netbooks," I would like to point out that most people said Apple would never enter the mobile phone market either...

I don't see Apple releasing a "netbook" either. However, how about a "full-powered" computer in a similar form? It wouldn't BE a netbook... It would mean Jobs isn't going to sell an "underpowered" computer (not as if the iPhone always keeps up with scrolling web pages, etc...), and they could distinguish the "netbook" market from their device quite easily. The problem with this scenario is that I don't think there is a large market for this type of device (at this time).

Jut my 2 cents...

[man_w_balls]

Guess what all of those iBooks and PowerBooks had that none of the "Netbooks" has ?

A GRAPHICS PROCESSOR / "card" with its own dedicated VRAM

I still have a 12" iBook that gets regular use for college work (it's the same size as a textbook) and it benefits greatly from having an ancient Radeon 7500 GPU with 32MB of actual separate VRAM.
Now, find me a netbook with something like the Nvidia GeForce 9400 or better, and I'll consider it.

[ballmerisanape]

kcotham.. so what your saying is... in order for Apple to make a netbook.. they have to put together an underpowered portable that has just a tad more than an iPhone....

[monkeyfun14]

@balmer

You just don't get it do you.

Netbooks are netbooks because of the size not the price.

If hypothetically a company offered a 17in laptop for $300 the low price would not constitute it as a netbook.

[Jonathan]

No. And the reason is simple. At a price point like $350 I can afford to upgrade to the latest and greatest once every year or so. These things are a supplement for a real laptop. There is simply no way in heck I could ever rip a DVD in a reasonable amount of time on this thing. (I have a DVD collection of over 500 movies. It would take forever.) so as processors get better, designs get better, audio gets better, screens get better. I'll shell out another 350, 350 there. Consider a laptop where I would drop 3K on a high end laptop once every 3-4 years at best. This is a continued revenue stream vs that comes in fits and spells. And the only reason Apple is throwing a temper tantrum is that no one gives a **** about their wanna be subnotebook that isn't one. The air is a joke. That isn't small when it has a footprint of a 13"er.
Devices like this are the =ent of what you get in a box of cracker jacks. Its a supplement pure and simple. I mean heck. I have a Precision M6400 for hardcore work. I have a Gateway tablet for on the go work that does pen input, and my little Aspire one. I take what I need with me. Sometimes its the luggable. Sometimes its the Aspire.
for the price of these things I can afford a throw-away computer...ok so its not a throw away. But I wouldn't cry if it went away like my workstation.

[rocketjam--2008]

The profit margin on these things is exceedingly small, so even if you buy a new one every year, the computer maker probably makes less than they do on the $3000 notebook you upgrade every three or four years.

And I'm not sure what "temper tantrum" you're referring to Apple throwing about netbooks. I guess it's all about perception.

[shevaberg]

i love my amd dual core laptop... it is not the best but it perfect laptop.
My sister has the acer netbook... for portability i would love one of those...
when i need power for gaming i go to my quad core...

it apple makes a netbook people will see how over priced the touches are

[caffemacchiato]

Most 'cheap' stuff are expensive?everything considered.

After taking a beating from those low cost and light weight netbook and 13" laptop, more people are heading for the 15" and bigger laptop.

The human ergonomics is not going to evolve anytime soon. Don't hold your breath.

[Maccess]

I don't know how many people do this, but I use and prefer subnotebooks and thin full size notebooks. I never use the built-in keyboard and screen at home or in the office. In these places, the units are docked (or attached, depending on model) with external keyboards, mice, and monitors. It's only when I travel, or use it in a coffeee shop, that I use the built-in keyboard and screen.

[rallynochaos]

I'm in college and I wouldn't trade my Acer Aspire One for the world. I've got a larger laptop for the dorm, but for taking notes in class the Aspire One is awesome.

And to all you griping about the "limited" power of netbooks, mine runs Adobe Photoshop CS4 just fine. I can plug in my 22 inch external monitor, a usb keyboard and mouse, and edit graphics all day long.

My laptop has become in essence my desktop, never leaving my room, and my netbook has come to replace my laptop in the portability sense.

[Random_Walk]

"...mine runs Adobe Photoshop CS4 just fine."

My laptop meanwhile can run PS/CS4, render a 30 fps animation with ambient occlusion turned on, and have enough change left over to surf the web and listen to music.

It also helps to do graphics on a screen that's big enough and at a high enough resolution so that you can actually, you know, see what you're doing :)

Don't get me wrong, there are legitimate uses for a netbook, but for folks who really want to do things that tend to be a bit resource intensive, there's only one way to go... bigger.

[cvaldes1831]

'But "exciting" new PC categories like the UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) have a way fizzling out when there isn't broad, sustained, enthusiastic industry support.'

Let's get this straight: "exciting" new PC categories have a way of fizzling out when there isn't broad, sustained, enthusiastic *customer* interest.

[Maccess]

And when they're ridiculously expensive. UMPCs are in the same product category as Netbooks, yet they never took off until some companies figured out how to make a cheap UMPC..what we now call Netbooks.

Funny thing is, some companies that used to make the unsaleable UMPCs have now repackaged them into "Premium Netbooks" at the same inflated UMPC prices.

[Angmarr]

Netbooks are extremely useful for a college students standpoint!

Buy a netbooks for looking at lectures and taking notes in class, then buys a PC desktop to do everything else (including gaming) = about the same $ you pay to buy a laptop!

[La_Mont]

Perhaps long established laptop makers don't want the netbook to thrive, but Acer and Asus are quite happy to dominate this category. Purchasing is consumer driven, not producer driven. The consumer runs the show.

[rclark15]

MAC already has a great ?netbook? it just needs a keyboard, it's call the iPhone.

[seven7dust]

lol! prepare yourself !

[baconstang]

iMac / MacBook / Touch combo works GREAT for me, and I don't have upgrade every year.

[pithenumber]

iPhone!=netbook
iPhone==smartphone

iPhone is tied to at&t and that makes it automatically junk
I love my iTouch though

[monkeyfun14]

iPhone is not a netbook...

Its a phone there are cell phones that have more features then a iPhone with touchscreens does this make them netbooks too?

[stephmur]

Last Christmas netbooks were the best selling category of computer on Amazon and they have consistently been a bright spot in an otherwise lackluster PC market. But the big players don't like the low profit margins and frugal price points of netbooks so they blow a lot of hot air about netbooks imminent demise even while every indication shows that the opposite is true. This article is more of the same and doesn't even mention the new NVidia ION graphics processor that, coupled with the Atom is very likely to invigorate the netbook segment even more by giving a much needed 4X boost in graphic performance. While naysayers like to point out the "lack of power" of netbooks, how much power do you really need to do 90% of most common computing tasks? I'll tell you where the "power" of most laptops comes from: a cord plugged into an AC outlet because of their abysmal battery life. That "power" makes $1000 laptops nice space heaters, calling them laptops is a stretch unless you're fond of 2nd degree burns on the top of your thighs. Compared to most laptops, the $350 Acer Aspire One with 6-7 hours of battery life is a much more functional as a laptop and if you spend $20 and max out the RAM they are pretty snappy little performers for most functions. Netbooks are here to stay, my friend. Adapt.

[jomxjom]

That.

I mean, my msi wind plays Spore at a higher graphics quality than my desktop -- home-built on the cheap two years ago -- and streams hulu SD movies, etc, with no problem. The atom is not the weak, crippled processor that people seem to want it to be. Add the fact that the wind weighs a mere 2.5 pounds, and I'll never buy another kind of laptop if I can help it. I'd much rather buy a powerful desktop at a savings, and use a netbook for portable computing.

It's true that the 7'' models were crippled by their size, but the 10'' models, which have now reached a very comfortable price point, are easy to get used to, and are much more pleasant for literal "lap-top" computing than most laptops. If you have a 8lb behemoth because you need power, why not just buy a desktop? So you need to do processor-intensive imagine processing. Do you need to do it in a coffee shop??? Maybe one person in ten -- at most -- has that problem. For the rest of us, nebooks supply more than enough power, at a great price point, and in an incredibly light, compact form factor.

[donsms]

Cmon folks,let`s get real about netbooks!The reason Apple and other companys want netbooks to go away ASAP is the simple fact that there isn`t as much money to be made selling them compared with selling notebooks.Very simple,it`s really not that complicated to figure out.

[baf8297]

What's interesting is that Apple already has two "netbooks" on the market - iPhone and iPod touch.

[pithenumber]

iPhone/iTouch!=netbook

[monkeyfun14]

Damn these comments annoy me...

iPhone/iPod Touch are not netbooks its not capable of full web browsing wait till I need to use Java or Flash has no real Office apps. And even lacks copy and paste.

[davemc49]

Just wait until after June 30, when most K-12 school districts begin a new fiscal year. I believe you'll see a huge surge of "netbook" sales then. The affordability of "netbooks" allows schools to buy many more units for greater student access to technology. To the skeptics who may think students won't like them, my district has been running a trial and we are surveying the students. According to survey results so far, students at all grade levels have little or no complaints about the keyboard size, screen size, performace, and are enjoying using them.

[wfolta]

Think form-factor versus price. In my opinion, Apple will come out with a super-sized iPod Touch that will be netbook-like in function but not form. Less stuff, more focused, which allows better quality stuff.

[crescentdave]

Intel CEO Paul Otellini said that he expects netbook sales to double in 2009. That'd be 28 million or so. Despite the "brilliance" of Crothers' analysis, it's easy to see that netbooks are here to stay. Of course they'll become more capable ... but they'll still have limited cpu power to keep the price down. Keyboards? Get a grip. More and more are coming out with a 92% normal size key layout, or better. It doesn't matter whether or not Sony and/or Apple or anyone else comes out with pricier designer models- there's still going to be this $200+ to $400+ model. It's too capable and too affordable when it comes to everyday tasks and portability.

[myles taylor]

I share the contempt of Netbooks. I can't stand them and don't understand why people are buying them. I guess it's the theory that ignorance is bliss. As the technology comes out to make thinner, lighter, and more powerful machines, this is a step in the wrong direction.

[Seaspray0]

Because they do what people need them to do at a lower cost. That's called value.

[jomxjom]

What are you talking about! Products like netbooks are exactly what drives that trend! Given that there's a real market for them; so as long as Asus keeps churning out eeePCs, other companies will have to adapt or die; and processor companies will be pushed to make thinner, lighter products for less, in order to compete.

Ignorance is what makes people buy 8lb 'gas-guzzlers' when all they really need is a little bit of power. If all you need to do is type and read email, why not have those capabilities in a small, inexpensive, exquisitely cheap package?

[Jilliebean46]

I have an HP 1030NR and love it, my daughter has an Aspire One and my husband has an Asus EeePC. We have regular laptops also but we leave them at home and take the portables with us each morning as we leave for work and school. They do everything we need them to do. We have a portable DVD drive that we use when we need DVD access. When we need something with more power we go home and use the big klunkers. I sure hope the netbooks are here to stay. Out of all the computers we have ever had, we love and use these the most, you can't beat the portability!.

[ewelch]

Toshiba practically invented the laptop category? Someone is forgetting Apple's early laptops.

[AJWatUC]

My first laptop was a 15" dell it was heavy hot and ugly. I went down to a 14" than a 12" now a 10" wind running osx leopard. I love it! I wouldn't trade it for anything. The keyboard is not that much smaller than a new imac slim keyboard. When it comes down to it i think apple is bad mouthing the netbook name to bring out a smaller 10" macbook. Then apple will say its a macbook not a netbook. It may even have a optical drive. I think apple is going to do what it takes to make sure you can't call it a netbook. I'm sure it will cost 599 or more. All this negative talk about netbooks is just apple setting the stage for their new netbook like computer.

[megustansalchichas]

i don't see why the netbook/notebook distinction. the netbook i just bought is the essentially the same computer i had 3+ years ago only cheaper and smaller. for the same reason people don't want to upgrade to vista, they don't need fancy new notebooks -i.e., they are just using their personal computers to email and surf the web, and leave their professional computing to their professional computers at work. it's computer 'enthusiasts' that want the blue ray, dvd burning, orbcasting experience, and those people know how to handle technology better and probably have a home server and a netbook combination where most just have a netbook. the intels and amds are whiners because they can't keep convincing people to spend $400 bucks on a processor upgrade every 16 months like they did a decade ago.