Apple Netbook At Macworld
It must be the middle of December because the Apple rumor mill is up and running. While there’s certainly no shortage of Apple rumors to be found, this one is a pretty well thought out one that I thought others might be interested in. Talk of an Apple netbook or an Apple tablet computer isn’t new, but Ezra Gottheil has put his brain to use and come up with a pretty compelling rumor.Ezra suggests that Apple may unveil a shiny new Apple netbook at Macworld and that, in a fashion similar to the iPhone/iPod Touch, it’ll be its own closed platform that would be among the first true “net”books to rely on some sort of online source for the majority of its workload.
Current netbooks obviously have the same capabilities, but in general they’re running fully accommodated versions of Windows and are really nothing more than a small notebook, making the “netbook” name little more than a tag. However, by going to a closed platform, Ezra is suggesting a situation where Apple may deliver software to its netbook in a fashion similar to the App Store and could work with other providers for various things, namely software and peripherals.
At the top of the list for software is Google, which kind of makes sense when you consider how well Google has been integrated into the iPhone. He also suggest HP could be involved in peripherals, and for those who remember, HP used to sell iPods branded for Windows, so it may not be a total stretch.
Combine all of this with some sort of online service that does backup, syncing, etc. (say, MobileMe) and you come out with a pretty compelling rumor. However, at just under $600, it wouldn’t be a cheap netbook, but that’d certainly make it an Apple Netbook.
I’m not sure how much I’m buying into this, or if I’m still sticking to my Apple tablet computer prediction at Macworld, but I have to give the guy credit for coming up with this.
As a bonus, read the comments: it’s an instant flame war between trolls and fanboys.
Gregg Keizer at ComputerWorld has the whole groovy story.
