You are here: Home Computer Other Are Apple touch-screen Netbook Re-emerging?

Are Apple touch-screen Netbook Re-emerging?

March 9, 2009

757

Print PDF Email to Friends Email to Author

You can take many Apple rumors with a grain of salt, but this one may have legs. According to a DigiTimes report, Taiwan-based Quanta Computer will build a new netbook computer for Apple.

Are Apple touch-screen Netbook Re-emerging?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) March 9, 2009 --You can take many Apple rumors with a grain of salt, but this one may have legs. According to a DigiTimes report, Taiwan-based Quanta Computer will build a new netbook computer for Apple. Quanta manufactures laptops for most of the top consumer electronics vendors, so its involvement in an Apple netbook project wouldn’t come as a surprise.

DigiTimes, which cites a story in the Chinese-language Commercial Times, says Taiwan-based Wintek will supply touch panels for the Apple netbook, and that panel shipments will likely start in the second half of 2009.

If these stories are true, it would appear that Apple is moving forward with its long-rumored large-screen iPod Touch, a touch screen device with a 7- to 9-inch display and a virtual keyboard. Such a netbook would eschew the conventional keyboard-screen design of mini-notes from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and just about everyone else.

Unlike a traditional iPhone or iPod Touch, the Apple netbook would likely be large enough for watching HD video and running standard desktop applications. An external keyboard would probably be optional as well.

Apple execs have blasted today’s netbooks as cramped and underpowered, and they have a point. It’s intriguing to imagine what a little Apple innovation could bring to the genre.

What would an Apple netbook cost? Split the difference between the $200 iPhone/iPod Touch and the $1000 MacBook, and there’s your sweet spot. A $600 Apple netbook would be competitive with the Asus/Acer/Dell crowd too.

Take this for what you will, but the Apple rumor mill is churning Monday with word that the company has a touch-screen Netbook in the works that will hit the market in time for back-to-school sales later this year.

Citing an article by the Chinese-language Commercial Times, DigiTimes is reporting that "Taiwan-based Wintek will supply touch panels for Apple's new Netbook, and shipments will start in the third quarter this year." DigiTimes also claims that Quanta Computer will manufacture the new device.

Chiming in on the rumor, Engadget has posted a mock-up of an Apple Netbook that has a keyboard. Meanwhile, Silicon Alley Reporter is sticking with its earlier speculation that Apple will simply do a larger version of the iPod Touch (it's calling the device the iPod Touch HD).

Personally, I'd rather see Apple go with a more straightforward Netbook approach that simply adds some Apple design flair to 10-inch Netbooks already on the market, with three models ranging in price from $599-$799.

Of course, Apple could just bring the price down on the MacBook Air and indeed bulk up the iPod Touch to differentiate its "Netbook" from other Netbooks already flooding the market.