Remember these paraphrased or totally made up quotes from Apple?

“No one wants to watch video on a tiny screen.”

“We don’t see much of a market for an Apple cell phone.”

“We believe a simple universal pricing structure for the iTunes store is the best thing for consumers.”

And now, finally:
“Netbooks are for losers. We pee all over netbooks.”

These quotes, again, may not be 100% accurate.

Meanwhile, Apple must call all netbooks junky – the problem is is that they cannot afford to build one. Not for the parts (which are all of a kind these days, even in an Apple) but rather, traditional MacBook sales would be gutted if Apple were to offer a competitively priced (under $450) netbook. Even if this offered a ‘Lite’ version of OSX (say, no iLife included) users would soon discover – as they did with netbooks – exactly how little they need, not how much they can spend.

Apple relies on products that are premium priced (and the PT Barnum quote) to maintain its bottom line. And that’s counter to netbooks.

Asus themselves are making some cash by selling these tiny machines. The Atom is a good processor and very soon now Nvidia’s Ion platform will also make a netbook that can play HD video. What more do you need?

Som,e complain about the screen and the keyboard on a netbook but add a outboard monitor and a keyboard and now you have a regular computer. Just need a tiny bit more oomph and you can have a good system.

Also, one thing wer jkontherun readers need to figure out is we’re the early adopters and the digerati. We demand more performance from things or when we take a hit in performance, some other reason to like and use a device. Right now, I like my netbook alot and it works for me just fine. I don’t edit videos much so I don’t need the horsepower everyday so there’s no reason for me to have a fullsize notebook.

I have replaced the HP with a Macbook Air. This is by far the best notebook I have ever used, (and I had over 20 notebooks in my technology life). It perfectly fits my need for a highly portable but fully function machine (and my functional requirements are a full size keyboard and screen). I know the Macbook Air is expensive, but for me its worth every cent.

I think Apple will produce an iPhone / iTouch based netbook device, rather than a small OSX machine.

Hmmmm it started with an “N”

I think, something to do with falling apples and someone’s head?

What could it have been….

It’s too bad that people confuse their own unwillingness to pay more than $500 for a computing device with good business practice. Netbooks will be viewed upon as “you reap what you sow” historical Business 101 case study where marketshare only buy you illusion one is a player (temporarily). Too bad after 100 years of capitalism, people still can’t distinguish between good marketshare and bad marketshare.

Mark my words, Dell will be the first of many companies that will be put out of business by blind fervor of wanting the world’s most successful companies to sell out their future for a product that generates no profits. And Microsoft will aid that by convincing consumers through their ad campaigns that the only time a PC is worth getting is when someone hands you cash.

Oh, and where do I find information on how to run OSX on the 2133 (or for that matter 2140). Last I checked, no one was really successful, but maybe that’s changed in recent days/weeks. I’d be interested in giving that a try.

Yikes… Did you see their latest quarterly earnings???

Let’s not exaggerate here. The notbook (sic) market is still significantly larger than the netbook market.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say Apple is just making excuses for them missing the boat – it’s very easy to call something “stupid” just because they didn’t bring it to market first. Then again it’s totally not uncommon for Apple to let somebody else, in this case HP/Intel, develop a product/platform over time that get’s the kinks worked out so that they can cannibalize the design, dump their OS/logo on it and claim to have the hot new hardware.

There’s absolutely no reason for Apple to not be able to produce a netbook like the HP 2140 mininote, but let it be their loss for all I care. The fact that HP – their competitor – beat them to market with it, is able to sell it for under $500, and is a device capable of running OSX may be the slap in the face for Apple, for they cannot charge $800 for a similar device.

1) Resolution. Apple can’t/won’t offer an ultra-high dpi display. Roughly 100dpi is their sweet spot, and it works great. However, even though OS X is fairly resolution independent, it’s an awful task to try to fit a proper OS X experience into a 1024×600 display.

2) Hardware. They took enough flak for the performance of the Air. They’re probably concerned that the Atom can’t keep up.

3) Battery life. As Apple moves to integrate Nvidia graphics, they’d have to move to Ion, which is largely unproven in netbooks in terms of heat output and power draw.

4) Keyboard and mouse. Most netbook keyboards suck. There, I’ve said it. They suck. They’re cramped, or poorly laid out, or both. Similarly, the tiny tiny surface area means that the touchpad also tends to suck.

Apple is having trouble diluting the full-blown Mac “experience” into a netbook form factor without blowing the roof off of the pricing. Would I buy an Apple netbook? Probably. Would I expect it to be priced competitively with the Eee? Not at all. I’d expect it to fall in line with the Vaio P, at best.

As a former Libretto user and a 12″ Powerbook fan(atic,) I have a rough idea what Apple likes to do, and how well they’ve pulled it off in the past. They love their keyboard design, and that’s their limiting factor. I can’t say I blame them, the Mac keyboard layout is one of the best I’ve seen, but on the other hand, they still haven’t revived even the 12″ PB form factor, even though it would work great as a 10″ widescreen OS X netbook.