(If you haven't been paying attention, a is a cheap, small laptop. PC-makers are selling a lot of them. Apple doesn't make one.)
During the company's Wednesday, the analysts once again wanted to know what Apple was doing in the netbook market.
Back in , an analyst asked Apple COO Tim Cook for the fledgling Netbook market.
was that netbooks were "much less powerful" than consumers wanted, with cramped keyboards and small displays. But, Cook added, "We'll see. We are watching the space... We've got some ideas here."
If you follow Apple regularly, you'll know that the company often runs down its competitors in a category before introducing its own game-changing product in that category. Cook's past statements lead me to believe that Apple is indeed planning its own answer to the netbook--and his statements during Wednesday's conference call did nothing to dissuade me from that opinion.
Here's what Cook said Wednesday:
Once again, Apple attacks the cramped keyboards and small screens of the netbook--something . I see this as an affirmation of Apple's unstated product philosophy that Mac laptops won't use anything smaller than a standard keyboard, and the company's real hesitation to make a laptop with a screen smaller than 13 inches.
Cook also repeats the claim Steve Jobs made last year, that in many ways the iPhone and iPod touch are Apple's "answer" to the netbook--or at least, to many consumers' needs for a small electronic device that does browsing and e-mail.
Then comes the tease. Cook is suggesting that perhaps Apple is working on an "innovative product that makes a contribution"--not a big shocker there. In three months, the ideas Apple has for the netbook space have become "interesting."
And finally, the hammer: "I think [it's] a stretch to call [the netbook] a personal computer." With smack talk like that, can Apple's entry into the netbook market be far behind?