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Apple has had another boffo quarter in terms of profits, with the numbers coming out like this…fiscal 2009 third quarter ended June 27, 2009 and posting revenue of $8.34 billion with a net quarterly profit of $1.23 billion. That is a LOT of money. That is all the more impressive in that it is heavily iPhone driven, selling more then 600 percent more iPhones then they did in Q3/08. Traditional iPod sales are definitely falling, by 10 percent over last year, but Apple clearly considers that to be due to people buying iPhones and iPod Touches instead.

All of this is well and good, but where is the frickin Giant iPod Netbook Thingie?

Here is what Apple COO Tim Cook had to say about the Apple Netbook issue, according to AppleInsider.

"whatever price point that we can build the best at, we will play there. At this point we don’t see a way to build a great product for this $399, $499… this kind of price point unit," he says. "As I’ve said before, I think this is playing out in several areas, I think some customers, maybe many customers buying these [netbooks], become disappointed and disenchanted after they buy one of these."

When questioned on a possible smaller device: Cook would "never want to discount anything" but won’t talk about any plans for a particular product. Most people buying portables "want a full-featured notebook."

"I think some of the netbooks that are being delivered… are very slow," Cook said. "They have software technology that is old. They don’t have a robust computing experience. They lack horsepower. They have small displays and cramped keyboards. I could go on and on, but I won’t."

Well, compared to last quarter’s reaction to netbooks from Apple, which was basically “EWWWWWWW…ICKY”, this is a clear improvement. Cook left the door open for some kind of small form Apple design to be sold at higher then a $500 price point. This fits with the rumored $800 pricetag of the so called Apple Tablet. All of the problems with netbooks that Cook lists; small screen, poor horsepower, old software, cramp keyboard, non-robust experience, could theoretically not apply to an Apple Tablet. After all, such a device would include new software, robust design, no physical keyboard, a large touchscreen, strong CPU, etc…so no problem, Tim.

“Whatever price point that we can build the best at, we will play there” reads almost like a statement of “Yes we will build a netbook, but it will be pricier then most and play by our rules”. Considering that Sony continues to keep the Sony P in the $1000 range, there is a precedent for luxury mobile products that Apple could easily play into. Just the fact that Cook did not repeat his definitive “NO” from last quarter keeps the Apple Tablet rumor in play…but we shall see come the Fall what Apple is REALLY intending to do with all those 10 inch touchscreens.