Taiwanese news site InfoTimes (translation via MacRumors) is reporting that Apple is currently placing component orders to Taiwanese companies Foxconn, Wintek, and Dynapack. All of this will be used in turn, to put the long rumored touchscreen netbook into production. According to the source, this new product will have a 9.7-inch screen, substantially smaller than the industry standard (10.1 […]
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Apple to Introduce a Netbook with Touchscreen in October?

Jul 14th 2009 by

Taiwanese news site InfoTimes (translation via MacRumors) is reporting that Apple is currently placing component orders to Taiwanese companies Foxconn, Wintek, and Dynapack. All of this will be used in turn, to put the long rumored touchscreen netbook into production.

According to the source, this new product will have a 9.7-inch screen, substantially smaller than the industry standard (10.1 to 10.2-inch). Here’s an excerpt from MacRumors:

According to reliable information, Apple will not follow the current market trend (by producing netbooks with screens about 10.2 or 10.1 inches in diagonal length.) Instead, Apple will produce screens with about 9.7 inches in diagonal length. Touch screen will be installed. Wintek will be the main manufacturer of the touch screen.

Few other details are available, but it is believed it will sell for $800. Here’s yet another excerpt:

Because Apple will adopt touch screen technology on its netbooks, Apple will not target low-end consumers, avoiding direct competition with Acer, Asus, as well as their less-than-500-dollars netbooks. Apple?s netbook (or a “tablet” as many call it,) will probably be sold at around $800 USD each.

I still don’t buy it. Granted, I’m very skeptical, and there is mounting evidence, I still don’t buy into this idea. Apple has repeatedly stated that they aren’t looking at entering the netbook market. Just because they say they won’t, doesn’t mean they won’t, I know. Something just seems off about this.

I have several burning questions like, what kind of OS will it run? An expanded version of iPhone OS? Mac OS X? Also, who does this appeal to? Will it be a large iPhone with a data plan, or a small standalone computer?  I’ve been wrong plenty of times before, and I do believe this is an ongoing project at Apple, I just don’t expect to see this product launched in October. Even if/when Apple releases this product, I doubt they market it as a “netbook”.
You can read the original story from MacRumors here. Mock-up courtesy of htootayzar.com.

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