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Celio RedFly in Action
November 7, 2009 – 9:36 pm | Comments

A few days ago I commented about the Celio Redfly adding support for BlackBerrys. I came across that bit of information first while researching to purchase a Celio RedFly myself and then while I’ve been …

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Home » General

We don’t make that kind of S…

Posted by ctitanic on April 23, 2009 – 5:56 am
closeThis post was published 6 months 17 days ago which may make its actuality or expire date not be valid anymore. This site is not responsible for any misunderstanding.

That’s my translations of the words of this Apple Spokesman: 

When I’m looking at what’s sold in the Netbook market, I see cramped keyboards, junky hardware, very small screens, bad software. Not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on. As it exists today, we’re not interested in it nor would it be something customers would be interested in the long term. We are looking at the space. For those who want a small computer that does browsing/email, they might want an iPhone or iPod Touch. If we find a way to deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution, we’ll do that

Basically they are repeating what they said about two years ago when they were asked about UMPC. Apple’s Price formula is very simple: Cost + 200% (Minimum) = Price, now take $500 + 200% = $1500. Would you pay 1500 dollars for a netbook? I won’t.

And sorry, the iPhone and iPod could be very good emergency tools for browsing the web but they do not even support flash so I find the comparison with the real navigation experience that you can get using a netbook… Stupid.

Via: GottaBeMobile.com

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ctitanic (728 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Working as IT Professional since 1994. IT Manager since 1999. Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Tablet PC/UMPC since 2007. Owner/writer of www.ultramobilepc-tips.com . Published many articles in todoUMPC Magazine, www.todoUMPCmagazine.com, the first online magazine all about UMPCs. Maker of Tweaks2K2, a registry hacking tool for Pocket PC devices (www.tweaks2k2.com).


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  • doog
    Now that Microsoft has reported 16% decline in Windows revenues year over year, despite the explosion in low-margin Netbooks in the last year, it seems as if Netbook volume has not been high enough at their low margins to replace revenue for Microsoft. PC sales are down 7% to 9% in the same time.

    Ok, so some of this may be people delaying a purchase to wait for Win7, but that's probably just a few percent, and Apple buyers may be doing the same with Snow Leopard. I'm thinking that Apple feels vindicated by a decision not to chase low-end volume with higher cost Mac Netbooks and that iPod Touch and iPhone volume is enough to keep their foot in the water with mobile computing until they come out with the device that they are supposed to announce in June.
  • @Ike Pigott:

    Seriously, the issue for Apple is they can't control the user experience on a Netbook. Most of what happens on a Netbook is browser-based, and they would be hard pressed to scale down their OS to match what you could do cheaper with Linux.


    Except they already have scaled the Mac OS and Safari down -- what do you think is running on the iPhone? So it doesn't seem impossible to me.

    @Forge42:

    There's no way they can shoehorn a netbook into their business model/pricing structure.


    I also don't see why Apple couldn't make a 10" Mac netbook for $600-$900. That should have reasonably good hardware, get them their premium and provide an entry in the space. I think Apple is more worried about cannibalizing their own notebook market, but most netbooks seem to be second PCs, not primary ones, so I'm not sure Apple needs to worry that much.

    While it's true that netbooks have "cramped keyboards" and "very small screens", that's part of the tradeoff for better portability. Apple then makes it laughable by suggesting an iPhone as a replacement, which has an even smaller screen and an even more cramped keyboard (if you even count the virtual keyboard).

    Steve
  • I know what is running on the iPhone... I also know what isn't.

    If you give someone a netbook with OSX, they will expect to install their own apps. Apple has that capped off right now by forcing the iPhone folks to go through the app store.

    Apple would be better off selling a $200 bluetooth keyboard for the iPhone, and you could even give it a nice shiny aluminum case to prop up the phone as the display. Those would be even cheaper to produce, and provide a nice upsell to those who want functionality.

    Oh -- and you could run a small chip in the keyboard to provide the cut and paste. ;)
  • doog
    "Basically they are repeating what they said about two years ago when they were asked about UMPC. "

    <sarcasm>And, boy, they were *so wrong* not to chase the cheap, low-margin UMPC market!</sarcasm>

    It doesn't seem as if Apple is suffering all that much for not having low-margin Netbooks. Their Mac business is down 3% year over year for Q1 (traditionally their weakest quarter), but IDC and Gartner estimates that the PC business is down 6.9%. And Apple gets all of these great margins on every sale, and they have branched out so that they are not so dependent on the computer market anymore anyway. Seems to me that the PC makers are probably more jealous of Apple's success right now than anything.

    Would I love a more portable Mac? Yes! Is the MacBook 13" a good enough replacement? It is for me.
  • Forge42
    Seriously.. this is such an obvious hand wave.

    The netbook's appeal is you can pay 50% of full laptop price and get 90% of the functionality.

    Apple's business model is for you to pay 50% to 100% more for a pretty piece of hardware with a shiny OS on it.

    There's no way they can shoehorn a netbook into their business model/pricing structure. Honestly, it isn't that surprising that he mentions the iPhone as their answer to netbooks, cause that hardware is as close as they can get to the netbook price point. The next step up would be the $2,000 Air.
  • Wow.

    The price point between in iPhone/iPod Touch and an Apple Netbook is $1200 or so?

    That's an awful lot to pay for Cut-and-Paste.

    Seriously, the issue for Apple is they can't control the user experience on a Netbook. Most of what happens on a Netbook is browser-based, and they would be hard pressed to scale down their OS to match what you could do cheaper with Linux.

    Also, they likely wouldn't get the trendy factor that would lock in with a wireless provider.
  • CodeBubba
    Sounds like a case of Sour Grapes to me. Apple can't figure out a way to charge $1000-$1500 for one so they don't want to play. If I needed a carry-around other than my PPC right now I'd grab one of those $300 Acer Aspire machines myself.
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