Apple netbook needn't be a 'book'

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 10 March 2009 13:41

Opinion and Analysis

Rumours emanating from Taiwan that Apple may be working on a touch-screen netbook should come as no surprise if you think about the Mac and iPod maker's current product line.

Some people argue that Apple already has a netbook - more accurately, two of them.

The iPod touch provides web and email access providing your connectivity needs are satisfied by WiFi. If you need the (almost) always-on connectivity delivered via the mobile phone networks, there's the iPhone 3G.

According to at least one measure, mobile browsing represents a tiny fraction of web use, even though the lion's share of it is taken by the iPhone and iPod touch.

For some purposes - and admittedly this is based on brief experience with various products - Apple's handhelds provide as good an experience as netbooks.

But even with the easy-to-use zoom capability, that small screen can be a big disadvantage.

So it would make a lot of sense if Apple's 'real' netbook turned out to be an oversized iPod touch rather than a shrunken MacBook.

Apple's been talking down netbooks, but that happened with video-capable iPods. So what other clues are there about the company's intentions? See page 2.