Laptops Analysts Believe Apple Could Sell a $700 Netbook

[MAGNeT]

People are willing to pay a premium for a product perceived to be better say analysts

The netbook market is huge right now and the only major computer maker in the U.S. to not currently offer a netbook is Apple. Rumours are swirling that Apple will be jumping into the netbook market and with Apple's WWDC coming next month many think an Apple netbook is coming sooner rather than later.

Analysts agree that Apple will be getting into the netbook market. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told InformationWeek that he believes Apple is working on a device with a touch screen ranging from 7 to 10-inches and selling in a price range of $500 to $700. That would put the machine in the high-end netbook segment, but analysts believe if the device is more functional than other netbooks on the market consumers will buy it.

The rumored Apple netbook would fill the gap between the iPod touch and iPhone and the MacBook that starts at $1000. Support for the Apple netbook rumour came from Piper Jaffray components contacts in Asia. InformationWeek also cites recent patents filed by Apple for multitouch technology.

One key to making an Apple netbook a success in the market is a keyboard according to some analysts. A real keyboard is a necessity, it would be hard to see consumers trying to work form a virtual keyboard similar to that of the iPhone. However, as analysts point out the keyboard would not have to be attached and could connect via Bluetooth.

Analyst Ezra Gottheil from Technology Business Research said, "People who aren't having money problems may want to pay more for something that they perceive as better constructed. This is particularly true for people buying netbooks for a second or third computer."

Analysts cited by InformationWeek believe that Apple will announce its netbook before the end of Q2 2009.

DailyTech - Analysts Believe Apple Could Sell a $700 Netbook

 

[manu1991]

Apple could even sell a 200$ mouse , its apple after all

@ topic - they'll have to tweak their OS a lot to run it on weak HW

 

[MAGNeT]

Apple netbook rumors again

Rumors suggest an October launch at $800

The never ending saga of that which is said to be the Apple netbook has started again. This time, our sources tell us that Taiwanese companies Foxconn, Wintek, and Dynapack have already received orders from Apple.

Our fruit-bearing moles tell us that Wintek will be producing the touch screens, which are said to be about 9.7 inches diagonal, and supplying additional necessary technologies. Foxconn and Dynapack are said to be handling the actual assembly and packaging of the units. We also are hearing that a variety of other companies that will be supplying parts have already received orders from Apple, as well.

The pricing of the Apple netbook is said to be targeted at $800 U.S. and it will arrive in October just in time for the holidays. While we have heard many of these rumors before, it seems that we might be getting closer to the truth. Many other sources are indicating that while Foxconn will not confirm the Apple netbook project, privately some employees have whispered that this is the case; but they are also saying that the launch could be delayed until 2010 depending on parts availability and pricing.

We will just have to wait and see, but we predicted long ago that Apple would produce a netbook and that it was only a matter of time.

Fudzilla

 

[YoGi-Sama]

@ topic - they'll have to tweak their OS a lot to run it on weak HW

I am sure they will tweak it if they want to put it on netbook.... but even without tweaking, many people were able to install and run OS X on existing netbooks (MSI Wind, Dell Mini9 etc) without much problem.

Hell... I'm still running Leopard on my age old iBook G4 (PPC 1.33 GHz) with 768mb DDR1 ram. I'm sure they can handle newer processors/config just fine.

 

[Ragin_Ice]

I guess the touch obsession will die sooner than later.

After experiencing touch screen in mobile phones and laptops, I have come to a conclusion that anything that is not capacitive and with an non-responsive UI is not as desirable.

I wonder what will Apple target with the touch screen

---will the touch feature serve as a replacement to the mouse?

---resistive screens may just need a harder push to activate an action. In that case, Apple will use a capacitive screen.

---Will apple use a more powerful processor? Portability is fine, but one of the key things that prevents netbooks from mass adoption after usability is the ability to carry out processor intensive tasks.

 

[desiibond]

ROFLMMAAOO. Netbook for the price of windows gaming notebooks. After all, the recent MS ads make lot of sense (if this 700$ rumour is true).

 

[forum67]

^^ capacitive touchscreen are available in the latest HP tx2z series.

let me change the thread title

Analysts Believe Apple FanBoi Could Buy a $700 Netbook