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Apple Questioned About Netbook (Again) and App Store Pricing and Rank Lists
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I hear both positive and negatives views on netbooks. Face it Apple is never coming out with a netbook. I don't have a problem with netbooks but people should not live under the illusion that they are high quality. Since netbooks are new, one has to also wonder if they're built to last 2 or 3 years.
I'm glad they're around for people who can't afford more and for students as well. If you're only choice is a $1000 laptop, a lot of the population would be left out of the digital age.
Best Buy has a stack of NOTEBOOK computers on their Web site for less than $400. Now I personally wouldn't waste my money on one (Celeron!), but why spend $300 on a stripped-down 9-10" netbook when you can get a less-stripped-down notebook with a 15" screen and DVD drive? Aside from the netbook being lighter ("6.6 pounds and 1.7 inches thin -- for portable power!" the site says about the notebooks), I just don't get it.
I would also like to point out how people threw around the term "subnotebook" before the MacBook Air was released. Now that it has been retired for the much less interesting "oleophobic", I'd love to know what the F was the MacBook Air supposed to be? Did gutting a computer so much just to make it thin die and get replaced by gutting a computer to make it small? I'm on a MacBook Pro, so I just don't get these weird trends. I can only guess that 2010 will be Year of the Dongle or something.
Personally, I thought that one of the more interesting points in the call was when Cook referred to iPod, iPod touch and iPhone as "pocket" products.
To me, this suggests that there is some segmentation/re-classification of their various products planned that is probably timed to the tablet device rollout, something that I blogged about in:
Analysis: Apple June Quarter Earnings Call - Keeping it Real
http://bit.ly/vbi9q
Check it out, if interested.
Mark
To me, this suggests that there is some segmentation/re-classification of their various products planned that is probably timed to the tablet device rollout, something that I blogged about in:
Analysis: Apple June Quarter Earnings Call - Keeping it Real
http://bit.ly/vbi9q
Check it out, if interested.
Mark
If one wants a $399 Apple "netbook", one only needs to buy a used 10" white 800M Macbook. One will get everything in a current "netbook", except have a full sized keyboard, a matte screen, firewire, and a CD drive thrown in for free. There were hundreds of thousands of such machines sold for the school market and still available. Plus, Apple made a CD version of Tiger to which you can upgrade, so all the latest iTunes and such can be ran just fine.
My daughter has one such and finds it totally satisfactory for school, syncing her iPod 4G, enjoying YouTube, and email. Everything a netbook she can do PLUS she sports a white book, not some cheapo crapo no-nameo almost-a-computer.
I can only surmise that people buy netbooks because they are the cheapest laptops you can buy. I will also say that many of these tech journalists who use netbooks, including some posters in this forum who already have MacBooks, it is simply a fad or geek jewelry.
As for the Macbook Air, I think it is ahead of its time and behind the curve. One day Mac laptops will resemble the Macbook Air with its lack of a DVD drive and SSD, but we're still about 5 years away. It is too expensive for what you get and they introduced it right at the start of a bad economic turn. As it is the MBA has no real audience. The 13" MBP gives you so much more at an increase of 1.5lbs and .25" thickness.
I think that apple will answer the market with a tablet that will be used more for education. Just think about it, 10 inch display that could be used as your text book in class, you could then download lectures or new songs on itunes, hell you could buy books in itunes (new market for apple to get in on) that are needed for assignments (or for pleasure). to top it off it would function more like iphone os just higher resolution and longer battery and hopefully oled screen with haptic touch (i wanna feel that im typing)... it would still be able to run productivity apps like iwork or office but i think that those would be ran in the browser with work offline feature... maybe be used as 2nd monitor when at home oh and sim card slot for 3g (4g coming in a couple years) bluetooth, 801.11n, ichat camera
I have an iPhone and they only time I connect it to my computer is to do a backup or to sync some new music if I have any.
You do realize you can recharge the battery using the wall plug connector ?
Don't you need a computer to have a iTunes account to buy the apps and update the OS?
There should be no need for a computer to backup, update and synchronize ever, a Mobile Me service could emulate that.
Yes. It's fine thanks. Samsung NC10. Screen, keyboard, storage. For Web/Office/Email etc - it's a cracking piece of kit. It booted OSX faster than my UBMB. It also ran Safari more reliably. I'm now using it to try out Win7.
You should be a little more realistic here.. I'm going to go out and boldly state that anyone who has an iPhone or iPod Touch has a computer be it a PC or a Mac.
You don't need to back up, update the OS or synchronize your music everyday. Being a little more realistic how long are you going to be away from your computer?
So you unplug your device from your computer in the morning, do your stuff until the evening and re plug it into the computer. What is the big deal?
You can also use your iPod Touch/iPhone weeks on end without ever needing to connect to a computer.
People are just trying to find silly excuses to downplay things. Its getting a little crazy out here in the wild.
The iPhone OS is a lot easier to use than a computer, for a lot of people this would be the only device they need. Also think about the Chinese workers ho live in there factory most of there lives, they can only use independent cellphones. A feature like that (no computer to use the Touch/iPhone) would open up the internet to a billion people.
The iPhone OS is a lot easier to use than a computer, for a lot of people this would be the only device they need. Also think about the Chinese workers ho live in there factory most of there lives, they can only use independent cellphones. A feature like that (no computer to use the Touch/iPhone) would open up the internet to a billion people.
Except those billions of people who don't have a computer probably don't have the money to buy an iPod Touch/iPhone.
So they work half a year to buy a Touch, i remember my grandparents paying half a year salary for a television in the fifties. Later this year with the Touch update Apple could easily sell the old Touch model at $100 in China and India, more usable than the OLPC and cheaper.
No netbook for $399 or $499. Hmmmm. This seems to suggest that the forthcoming touchscreen iTablet is going to cost as much as a MacBook Air. 
okay. I'll take two. when can I get it delivered by?
okay. I'll take two. when can I get it delivered by?
I think that apple will answer the market with a tablet that will be used more for education. Just think about it, 10 inch display that could be used as your text book in class, you could then download lectures or new songs on itunes, hell you could buy books in itunes (new market for apple to get in on) that are needed for assignments (or for pleasure). to top it off it would function more like iphone os just higher resolution and longer battery and hopefully oled screen with haptic touch (i wanna feel that im typing)... it would still be able to run productivity apps like iwork or office but i think that those would be ran in the browser with work offline feature... maybe be used as 2nd monitor when at home oh and sim card slot for 3g (4g coming in a couple years) bluetooth, 801.11n, ichat camera
I great device outside of education, think about design office in and out of meeting, in and out of office. needing a high powered machine sometimes but not all the time. In many ways like a school enviroment.
Let the device hold all the staffs mail, bookmarks, music and contact details. Let the device be hold a remote user profile when in a Computer Lab or using a spare high power computer.
Oh, so you actually DO have to connect it to your computer, right?
What's so wild about answering the question correctly? He asked specifically (bold is my emphasis): "You can use an iPhone/Touch without ever connecting it to a computer then?"
The answer is NO for most users. Let's get realistic then ... the devices were designed to be used with an installation of iTunes. Yes, technically, you can be a propeller head and never connect it to a computer, but you're supposed to connect it from time to time for various reasons. If you expect to synchronize your apps and music to the iPhone/iPod Touch, update the OS, backup, or do any other iTunes-specific things with the device (things like ... oh, I dunno ... register it, maybe), most people connect it to a computer that has iTunes installed.
Buying a 15 inch screen would defeat the purpose of a netbook. They're supposed to be ultraportable. It really has nothing to do with computing power. All people do on them is surf the net and check Facebook.
It's a no win scenario. You can bring up Acer's netbook sales and hardware sale markstshare over Apple only to get talked down about how the profit margins are nowhere near what Apple makes on a sale.
There are other factors here too. Apple is one of those companies that actually takes pride in their products. While profit comes first in a general sense, I think they are telling the truth when they say they don't want to put out a product that doesn't live up to their standards (regardless of the margins). The netbooks have been plagued with build quality issues (and as much as ya'll like to whine about Apple's build quality, I work with and on them on a day-to-day basis, and Apple's build quality overall is excellent, and has been steadily improving since the early G5's, when the quality was not quite so great). Apple doesn't want to put out a machine where they'd be forced to cut that many corners to compete on price (which is what makes a netbook).
jW
It's pretty obvious that when Apple says they won't compete in the sub $500 notebook category what they really mean is they will make a product equivalent to a $500 netbook and then sell it for $800. In other words I would bet lots of money that their cost on whatever this device turns out to be is the same as a $500 netbook. People will pay the Apple hardware premium just as they always have because it will be fashionably designed and reasonably well built.
My 2 cents.
My 2 cents.
Not for me. You can surf the net and do the Facebook thing on an iPhone or iPod Touch, but it's a tad too small to do comfortably for any stretch of time. A 10" screen sounds just about right for me ... but any size increase from the iPhone's is an improvement toward this end. This is why some folks are excited about Apple's future iTablet or netbooks in general to meet these desires.