Apple

Concept art for an Apple touch-screen Netbook.

(Credit: Gizmodo)

We get a lot of e-mails from folks asking us when to expect a Netbook from Apple. Let's make something absolutely clear: despite all the previous rumors, we have no idea if, or when, such a product will exist. But we will let report to you when a new (or recycled) rumor pops in the blogsphere.

The latest: the Mandarin-language publication Chinese Times is reporting that Apple will release a Netbook in October. We tend to put a question mark on our rumor headlines, but there doesn't seem to be any question mark in the reporting here--at least according to a translation of the article that appeared within MacRumors.com's forum.

Naturally, this all comes from a "reliable source." Here's the key quote in the article (again, we are going by the translation that appeared on MacRumors):

Taiwan's high-tech supply chain companies said Apple will debut its first Netbook in October; Apple will pose itself to tackle the Christmas shopping season. Three (Taiwanese) corporations--Foxconn, Wintek, Dynapack--have received direct orders from Apple. (Wintek will be producing touch screens and providing relevant technologies for Apple.) In addition, some supply chain companies have privately confirmed deals related to Netbooks."

The report also goes on to add that "Apple will not follow the current market trend (by producing Netbooks with screens about 10.2 or 10.1 inches in diagonal length). Instead, Apple will produce (touch) screens with about 9.7 inches in diagonal length." As to cost, word is that it will come in around $800, which is about what we'd expect an Apple Netbook to cost (if the company decides to make one).

There are also some interesting updates tacked on to the MacRumors post as additional stories have come out. One update says there are "unconfirmed rumors" that British reporters pried Apple Netbook info out of several Foxconn Electronics employees and that although Foxconn refused to publicly comment on the rumors, the reporters may have gotten some sort of private confirmation on the rumors' validity from the company itself.

Again, these are all rumors, and with Apple, you never know what kind of bizarre smoke screen it might put out there. But in the past, the company has had some issues with leaks coming out of its suppliers in Taiwan, so we're thinking there might be some truth to this one--especially since the same rumor hit back in March. Either way, we do expect Apple to release new iPods this fall (as it has the last few years). Whether one of them will be a giant iPod Touch remains to be seen.

Comments? Do you think Apple really will do a Netbook this year?

Source: Gizmodo via MacRumors via China Times (original article in Mandarin)

This was originally published at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Apple is likely to launch a tablet that's similar to the iPod Touch, but larger, in the first half of 2010, marking the company's entry into the Netbook race, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says.

In a research note Thursday, Munster handicaps the gaps in Apple's product lineup. The gaping hole: there's nothing between the iPod Touch and the MacBook. Enter this iPod Touch on steroids for $500 to $700.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook called Netbooks junky, but he never dismissed the consumer demand for them.

Munster writes:

Between indications from our component contacts in Asia, recent patents relating to multi-touch sensitivity for more complex computing devices, comments from Tim Cook on the April 22nd conference call, and Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi along with other recent chip-related hires, it is increasingly clear that Apple is investing more in its mobile computing franchise.

Specifically, we expect this to result in a larger (7-inch - 10-inch) touchscreen tablet that will launch in 1H CY10. Additionally, Apple's consistent message that it refuses to launch a "cheap" portable netbook, and its desire to differentiate itself in a maturing market before it's too late (similar to the timing of iPod and iPhone), plus its gradual addition of multi-touch technology to all of its core products (iPhones, iPods and Macs) leads us to conclude this product will be a touchscreen tablet (not a netbook).

Apple's game plan will revolve around its multitouch patents to cook up something different from your generic Netbook. Munster's theory makes a lot of sense. A Netbook would tarnish the Mac's average selling price and potentially cheapen the Apple brand. A tablet wouldn't. Double bonus: a Mac tablet would compete with Amazon.com's Kindle e-book reader.

What's the OS look like? Munster has an answer for that too:

We are anticipating a new category of Apple products with an operating system more robust than the iPhone's but optimized for multi-touch, unlike Mac OS X. The device's OS could bear a close resemblance to Apple's mobile OS and run App Store apps, or it could be a modified version of Mac OS X. We expect the development of such an OS to be underway currently, but its complexity, along with our conversations with a key company in the mobile space, leads us to believe it will not launch until CY10.

Is Apple too late to the game? Not really. Apple was late with the iPod, and we saw how that turned out. Ditto for the iPhone, which came five years after the first BlackBerry. Relatively speaking, Apple's Netbook killer would be a fast follow.

Here's a closer look at Munster's argument for a Mac tablet and not a Netbook:

Why Not A Netbook?

• A low-cost netbook would serve to cheapen the Mac brand and lowers Mac ASPs (average selling price).

• A netbook with OS X on it would cannibalize MacBook sales, offering a new portable with OS X for a lower entry price. Apple could curb this effect by offering a slimmed down version of OS X without the iLife suite pre-installed, but we see this as unlikely, as its fully-featured approach, particularly with iLife and digital media, is a core selling point for the Mac brand.

• Perhaps most importantly, a netbook would not differentiate Apple's product from other netbooks entering the market, and as we have seen with the iPod and the iPhone, Apple prefers to enter a market once they can offer a significantly differentiated and often premium version of the product.

Why A Tablet?

• Component contacts in Asia suggesting there are no prototypes, but discussions about required components are underway.

• Recent patents relating to multi-touch sensitivity for more complex computing devices.

• Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi along with other recent chip-related hires leads us to believe that Apple is investigating making its own chip for non-Mac mobile devices. We presuppose that Apple is content with its relationship with Intel, and decision to move the Mac platform to Intel based processors. We think the recent activity related to chips has more to do with development of a mobile device.

• Comments from Tim Cook on the April 22nd Conference Call. See quote below.

"Well, you know, for us, it is about doing great products. And when I look at what is being sold in the netbook space today, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware. Very small screens. And just not a consumer experience, and not something that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly. And so, it is not a space as it exists today, that we're interested in. Nor do we believe that customers in the long-term would be interested in. It is a segment we would choose not to play in.

"That said, we do look at the space and are interested to see how customers respond to it. People that want a small computer, so to speak, that does browsing and e-mail might want to buy an iPod Touch or they might want to buy an iPhone. So, we have other products to accomplish some of what people are buying netbooks for. So, in that particular way, we play on an indirect basis. Then, of course, if we find a way where we can deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution, then we'll do that. We have some interesting ideas in the space."

Concept art for an Apple touch-screen Netbook.

(Credit: Gizmodo)

Updated at 4:09 a.m. PDT March 10 with new information from Dow Jones Newswire. This story was originally posted at 9:44 a.m. PDT March 9.

Take this for what you will, but the Apple rumor mill is churning with word that the company has a touch-screen Netbook in the works that will hit the market in time for back-to-school sales later this year.

Citing an article by the Chinese-language Commercial Times, DigiTimes reported Monday that "Taiwan-based Wintek will supply touch panels for Apple's new Netbook, and shipments will start in the third quarter this year." DigiTimes also claimed that Quanta Computer will manufacture the new device.

Now Dow Jones Newswire has posted an updated story that expands on the DigiTimes report. "The mini laptop computers will likely have monitor screens that are between 9.7-inches and 10-inches," an unnamed source told Dow Jones. Another person added, "Other specifications and functions are still under evaluation." The report also claimed Wintek would make the touch-screen displays and Quanta would assemble the new computers.

Chiming in on the rumor, Engadget posted a mock-up of an Apple Netbook that has a keyboard. Meanwhile, Silicon Alley Reporter stuck with its earlier speculation that Apple will simply do a larger version of the iPod Touch (it's calling the device the iPod Touch HD).

Personally, I'd rather see Apple go with a more straightforward Netbook approach that simply adds some Apple design flair to 10-inch Netbooks already on the market, with three models ranging in price from $599-$799.

Of course, Apple could just bring the price down on the MacBook Air and indeed bulk up the iPod Touch to differentiate its "Netbook" from other Netbooks already flooding the market.

Thoughts?

Lenovo's first Netbook. Might Apple be working on something similar?

(Credit: Lenovo)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs danced around the idea of Apple releasing a so-called Netbook on Tuesday, but such a device might already be in the wild.

The New York Times' John Markoff reported Tuesday that anonymous sources at an anonymous Internet search company (wonder which one that is) have spotted the tracks of an Apple device with a screen larger than an iPhone, but smaller than a MacBook, in their visitor logs.

That is by no means proof that Apple plans to release a small MacBook in the Netbook vein, but could be evidence that Apple's plans for this category are a little more concrete than Jobs suggested during Tuesday's earnings conference call.

Jobs called the Netbook category "nascent" during his rare appearance on the earnings call and suggested that the iPhone is Apple's answer to demand for a small Internet-browsing device. Still, he didn't rule out eventually heading down that road: "We'll wait and see how that nascent category evolves and we've got some pretty interesting ideas if it does evolve."

I've always thought that Apple has all kinds of product mockups running in its labs, such as a Tablet Mac, a Netbook, or a real Apple TV, but that those products aren't fully developed because the time isn't right, or the demand isn't there, or because Jobs thinks it looks hideous. It's not too hard to imagine that one of those might sneak onto the Internet from time to time, although it's also not hard to imagine the weird device showing up in the server logs as the result of some spoof.