Steve Jobs on Apple's cash, NetBooks, Apple TV, and Cheap PCs

[AppleInsider]

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance on the company's fourth quarter conference call Tuesday and fielded a variety of questions that revealed further insight into company's ongoing product strategies. Specifically, he made remarks about Apple's position on the emerging NetBook space, how the troubled global economy impacts the company, the state of Apple TV, and how Apple views the prospects for $500 desktop PCs.

The hidden, outstanding success of the iPhone

Jobs announced the release of non-GAAP financial results that expose the hidden, deferred revenues related to the subscription accounting used for the iPhone and Apple TV. The numbers are "truly stunning" Jobs said. "By eliminating subscription accounting, adjusted sales for the quarter were $11.68 billion, 48% higher than the reported revenue of $7.9 billion, while adjusted income was $2.44 billion, 115% higher than the reported net income of $1.14 billion.

"Adjusted net income that is more than double our reported income," he added. "If this isn't stunning, I don't know what is. All due to the incredible success of the iPhone 3G."

Jobs also announced two milestones related to its phone business. "The first is that Apple beat RIM," Jobs said, noting that "RIM is a good company that makes good products. And so it is surprising that after only fifteen months on the market that we could outsell them in any quarter."

"But even more remarkable is this," he continued, "measured by revenues, Apple's become the world's third largest mobile phone supplier. I know this sounds crazy, but it's true. As measured in revenues, not units, Apple has become the third largest mobile phone supplier."

"Let's look at the ranking. Nokia is clearly number one with $12.7 billion. Samsung number two at 5.9 billion. Apple is number three at 4.6 billion, Sony Ericsson is number four with 4.2 billion. LG number five at 3.4 billion, Motorola number six with 3.2 billion and RIM number seven at 2.1 billion. Pretty amazing."

Lots of cash to throw around

Apple added another $3.7 billion in cash during the quarter, so it now has $24.5 billion "safely in the bank, and zero debt" Jobs noted. He spoke of "extraordinary opportunities" for companies in a time of economic downturn "with the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does," but wouldn't clarify how that might relate to any specific strategies, including new efforts to acquire other companies.

Jobs did say the company's cash position "provides us tremendous stability and the ability to invest our way thorough this downturn. This is what we did during the last downturn. We increased R&D investments and created some of our best new products and businesses, like the Apple retail stores for one."

When asked how much more expensive the aluminum unibody was over conventional construction, and whether the 35% decline in aluminum pricing would show up in Apple's financials, Jobs answered, "We'd certainly sell our new MacBooks cheaper if we just delivered them with a block of aluminum. But we have to machine that aluminum, and it's a fairly precision operation. So the cost of aluminum matters some, but is not a dominant cost."

Netbooks, iPhones, and the troubled economy

Asked about PC prices in the current economy and the new netbook category that is "getting a lot of hype", Jobs said "well, again, this particular downturn is not creating a market of cheaper computers. That market has existed for some time. And there are parts of that market that we choose not to play in."

"I think that when people want a product of the class that we make, over and over again people have done the price comparisons and we're actually quite competitive. So we choose to be in some segments of the market and we choose not to be in certain segments of the market.

"So the question is, 'is the downturn going to drive some of our customers to those lower segments of the market place to buy lesser products.

"I will be surprised if that happens in large numbers. And I actually think that there are still a tremendous number of customers that we don't have, in the Windows world, or in the other 99% of the phone market that we don't have, who would like to and can afford to buy Apple products.

"We're not tremendously worried. As we look at the netbook category, that's a nascent category. As best as we can tell, there's not a lot of them being sold. You know, one of our entrants into that category if you will is the iPhone, for browsing the Internet, and doing email and all the other things that a netbook lets you do. And being connected via the cellular network wherever you are, an iPhone is a pretty good solution for that, and it fits in your pocket.

"But we'll wait and see how that nascent category evolves, and we have got some pretty interesting ideas if it does evolve," Jobs said.

Asked how well the iPhone will do in the troubled economy, Jobs replied, "We'll be glad to tell you how it does." Earlier in the call, Jobs said, "none of our competitors can deliver products in this class," and noted that cash strapped customers, "while they might postpone purchases, they are more likely to delay than switch."

Cheap PCs

Asked whether users will be likely to see a cheaper computer from Apple, Jobs answered, "I think what we want to do is deliver an increasing level of value to these customers."

"There are some customers which we chose not to serve," he added. "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that. But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve. And there's a lot of them."

"We've seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody. So I think you can expect us to stick with that winning strategy and continue to try to add more and more value to those products in those customer bases we choose to serve."

Apple TV

Asked about the "digital living room opportunity and how it relates to Apple TV," Jobs replied, "well again I think the whole category is still a hobby right now. I don't think anybody has succeeded at it. And actually the experimentation has slowed down. A lot of the early companies that were trying things have faded away."

"So I have to say that given the economic conditions, given the venture capital outlook and stuff, I continue to believe that it will be a hobby in 2009."

Jobs was also asked about Tablet computing and touch screens and whether Apple has any products in the pipeline, to which he replied, "I think we have such creative people that are looking a lot of things, but I can't really talk about any of the future products we're working on, I'm sorry."

iPhone Nano

When asked why Apple only has one product offering in the vast smartphone market and what further opportunities for innovation or "other market opportunities within that market" Apple might have, Jobs replied, "I wasn't alive then, but from everything I've heard, Babe Ruth only had one home run. He just kept hitting it over and over again.

"I think that the traditional game in the phone market has been to produce a voice phone in a hundred different varieties. But as software starts to become the differentiating technology of this product category, I think that people are going to find that a hundred variations presented to a software developer is not very enticing. And most of the competitors in this phone business do not really have much experience in a software platform business."

"So we're extremely comfortable with our product strategy going forward, and we approach it as a software platform company, which is pretty different than most of our competitors."

Additional Coverage

Apple profits rise 26% on sales of 2.6M Macs, 6.8M iPhones
Notes of interest for Apple's Q4 2008 results call
Apple iPhone 3G sales surpass RIM's Blackberry
iPhone App Store continues to exceed iTunes song sales growth

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[MJ Web]

Steve tickles me. He's got a very amusing rap for such a bright fellow. Long live, Steve!

[iPeon]

Haaaaa, sanity!

[FuturePastNow]

Originally Posted by Steve Jobs

"We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that. But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve. And there's a lot of them."

So the original G4 Mac mini, which was $499, was a piece of junk? Gotcha.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by MJ Web

Steve tickles me. He's got a very amusing rap for such a bright fellow. Long live, Steve!

Amen. Long life to Steve. Though I do disagree.

I believe that Netbooks are a fantastic idea and that Apple will eventually be forced to serve this market.

iPhone is nice but there is a substantial market for a real keyboard and larger screen. Apple's current USB only Macbook strengthens the netbook appeal because if USB is good enough for Apple's laptops as the primary connectivity then Netbooks need not offer that much more connectivity either.

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-8-9-inch-...4636851&sr=8-1

Connectivity
This Acer Aspire One notebook has an integrated 54g wireless LAN (Acer InviLink) that's compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g networks and offers Acer's SignalUp technology for enhanced antenna efficiency. This notbook provides the following connections:

3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
Secure Digital (SD) card reader, also compatible with MultiMedia cards (MMCs)
Multi-in-one card reader supports SD, MMC, Memory Stick/Memory Stick PRO, and XD Picture Cards
1 VGA monitor port
1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
RJ-45 port for 10/100 Fast Ethernet connection

More well appointed than a Macbook from a connectivity standpoint.

I eventually plan to see Netbooks with WWAN built right into the chipset and using
faster processors. They may as well add cellular options along with the WWAN. I think this market is only Nascent because the mobile Atom chips are new but I expect this to be an explosive area for computer companies.

Typical Apple MO is to downplay markets (flash based digital music players) until they're ready to promote a product and then suddently the category is a hot seller.


AppleTV - of course it's a hobby. It's functionality is pretty basic and it actually offers less functionality than say an Xbox 360 with extra software or a PS3. I still think it offers value but it's groundbreaking in no way that I can think of.

[gugy]

Jobs said:

Asked about the "digital living room opportunity and how it relates to Apple TV," Jobs replied, "well again I think the whole category is still a hobby right now. I don't think anybody has succeeded at it. And actually the experimentation has slowed down. A lot of the early companies that were trying things have faded away."

"So I have to say that given the economic conditions, given the venture capital outlook and stuff, I continue to believe that it will be a hobby in 2009."

Too bad, It seems that next update of AppleTV will not be as robust as most of us expect. At least I hope it has external drive support, so storage can be increase.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by gugy

Jobs said:

Asked about the "digital living room opportunity and how it relates to Apple TV," Jobs replied, "well again I think the whole category is still a hobby right now. I don't think anybody has succeeded at it. And actually the experimentation has slowed down. A lot of the early companies that were trying things have faded away."

"So I have to say that given the economic conditions, given the venture capital outlook and stuff, I continue to believe that it will be a hobby in 2009."

Too bad, It seems that next update of AppleTV will not be as robust as most of us expect. At least I hope it has external drive support, so storage can be increase.

If there's one thing I've learned from watching and listening to Jobs over the past few years, it's to "never" believe what's coming out of his mouth. He's essentially saying; "recession", but what he and Apple are doing in the labs and behind the scenes is planning to take over the living room!! And the have the cash to make it happen.

September 2009 or earlier: Apple "TV"

They may not kill the 20" and 30" Cinema displays (though I believe they are going to kill the 20"), but a TV is on the cards, in the tea leaves and in their future. Like the mobile phone was for them, this too is almost unavoidable.

[anantksundaram]

RDF or not, this guy is a true leader.

Buy. (But only if you have the cajones to Hold.)

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by hmurchison

AppleTV - of course it's a hobby. It's functionality is pretty basic and it actually offers less functionality than say an Xbox 360 with extra software or a PS3. I still think it offers value but it's groundbreaking in no way that I can think of.

I agree that it is in no way groundbreaking. It offers so many rich possibilities, and could be so much better.

But, I have to tell you that I am (actually my whole family is) amazed at how often I (we) end up using the little box! And how much enjoyment we get out of it. It has been $229 well-spent.

[MJ Web]

Originally Posted by hmurchison

I believe that Netbooks are a fantastic idea and that Apple will eventually be forced to serve this market.
iPhone is nice but there is a substantial market for a real keyboard and larger screen.

AAPL is a shrewd company and Steve's guile belies his response.
It's all in the lab, HM... It's all in the lab!

[JeffDM]

The netbook is taking off though, I think surprisingly well for being such a new category, to dismiss it out of hand sounds like a feint to me. IDG estimates 2M sold in EMEA last quarter, not too shabby for a category of products that didn't exist at all last year that I remember, back then it was just one guy and a few people trying to design one.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I agree that it is in no way groundbreaking. It offers so many rich possibilities, and could be so much better.

But, I have to tell you that I am (actually my whole family is) amazed at how often I (we) end up using the little box! And how much enjoyment we get out of it. It has been $229 well-spent.

I'll wait until after MWSF to make sure I don't buy just before a product refresh but even at it's basic level I personally see enough value in the ATV to warrant a purchase. It's just not the game changer that some consumers need to open the wallet.

Originally Posted by MJ Web

AAPL is a shrewd company and Steve's guile belies his response.
It's all in the lab, HM... It's all in the lab!

Of course. The purchase of P.A Semi has Netbook written all over it and Apple's newfound love for the "Cloud" is another.

I expect a $699-799 Apple "netbook" to hit within 18 months.

[Kibitzer]

Originally Posted by FuturePastNow

So the original G4 Mac mini, which was $499, was a piece of junk? Gotcha.

Remember, the minis didn't and still don't come with a monitor, keyboard or mouse. The base mini today costs $599 - $200 more for a faster processor, larger hard drive and Super Drive. Compare that with the current $500 notebooks on the market and what hardware and software they include. Then look at the repriced $999 MacBook and decide where the real value is.

[ltcommander.data]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

You know, one of our entrants into that category if you will is the iPhone, for browsing the Internet, and doing email and all the other things that a netbook lets you do. And being connected via the cellular network wherever you are, an iPhone is a pretty good solution for that, and it fits in your pocket.

Personally, if Apple can't make a decent profit in the Netbook market, which I believe is something PC makers are struggling with, then it isn't worthwhile to spend the effort in developing a Netbook.

Besides, the iPod Touch is a decent entry into the Netbook market. It is actually priced lower than most netbooks, has more storage than many of them and is well suited for portable internet access. If Apple decides to release iWorks Touch or perhaps Microsoft develops an Office Touch, it'll be a decent productivity tool. Peripherals can be sorted out by adding Wireless USB instead of space consuming physical ports.

[paxman]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

The netbook is taking off though, I think surprisingly well for being such a new category, to dismiss it out of hand sounds like a feint to me. IDG estimates 2M sold in EMEA last quarter, not too shabby for a category of products that didn't exist at all last year that I remember, back then it was just one guy and a few people trying to design one.

Did he dismiss it? Not entirely I don't think. I don't know, as I don't have one, but if you had Pages and Numbers for the iPhone, and perhaps a tiny bluetooth (soft, foldable, whatever) keyboard, you'd pretty much have a very cool netbook, no? Maybe in a slightly different form factor? He did mention the iphone in that context.

[Anawrahta]

Originally Posted by paxman

Did he dismiss it? Not entirely I don't think. I don't know, as I don't have one, but if you had Pages and Numbers for the iPhone, and perhaps a tiny bluetooth (soft, foldable, whatever) keyboard, you'd pretty much have a very cool netbook, no? Maybe in a slightly different form factor? He did mention the iphone in that context.

You're right he didn't dismiss it. Although slapping an external KB on an iPhone hardly qualifies it as a netbook.

Realistically they're just going to wait it out like Sony is doing to see what happens. Sales are definitely taking off in that area, but the market has also become incredibly saturated with competitors as of late.

The thing that bothers me is that Apple lets their low end rot with old designs. I mean look at the mac mini, and now they're gonna do the same with the low end macbook. How hard would it be to update these things to current chipsets?

[sflocal]

Originally Posted by FuturePastNow

So the original G4 Mac mini, which was $499, was a piece of junk? Gotcha.

Yes, it was back then and it definitely is now. So what is your point? You wanted to buy cheap and you got exactly what you wanted.

They advertised it it appropriately as a low-end Mac for people that wanted to fiddle with OSX but not break the bank to do it.

[nace33]

Wow, the comments on the AppleTV were really disheartening.

[Ten]

As someone else said:

Who cares about guidance...
...just look at the non-GAAP numbers. Those reflect Apple's ACTUAL sales and profits last quarter, if Apple didn't defer the iPhone revs.

Sales would have been $11.7B, not $7.9B.

Profit would have been $2.4B, not 1.1B.

EPS would have been $2.69!!! not $1.26.

Just look at those numbers. That's why free-cash flow is so high. That's why cash is being added to Apple's cash pile faster than income. If you just look at those numbers, you'll realize that Apple is one of the most profitable companies in the world, and growing like mad. That's why Apple merited a high multiple, and that's why stupid analysts just don't get it. Steve actually had to get in on the conference call to explain the non-GAAP figures to the analysts, because they've been so clueless since Apple started deferring revenues.

Awesome!

[YTV]

(redacted)

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

The hidden, outstanding success of the iPhone


Jobs also announced two milestones related to its phone business. "The first is that Apple beat RIM," Jobs said, noting that "RIM is a good company that makes good products. And so it is surprising that after only fifteen months on the market that we could outsell them in any quarter."

Someone should tell Jobs, that the iphone is sold in about 20x more markets than blackberries also.

[msantti]

Originally Posted by nace33

Wow, the comments on the AppleTV were really disheartening.

I sure hope we some some advancement on the Apple TV.

I love mine. Nice to listen or watch podcasts on the big screen and the movie rentals is a great feature. More and more movies appearing.

I want to see forward movement here.

I really think we will see some sort of crossover device. Something between a phone and a laptop.

Was hoping it would be out before years end but it did not happen.

The new 'books are nice but 2008 was just not a "wow" year like 2007 was with the iPhone.

[gugy]

Jobs, still calling AppleTV a hobby because I think he is having a huge hard time breaking into the networks and movie studios distribution of content.
It's pretty solid that Jobs want to make iTunes the portal of all of the content in order to AppleTV becoming a successful and mass market product. The problem is the studios and networks are not buying into it and making it really hard to happen. They are worried the way Apple dominates the digital downloads for music and dictates a lot of the pricing for the same. That's why it has been so difficult for Apple to break in this market. The networks and movie studios do not want to give Apple too much power. So the struggle continues....

Meanwhile the advancement of AppleTV seems to be place on hold. Too bad, I think there is a lot of potential for that product.

As for television goes, besides all the current information and market analysis that is not a good idea at the moment business wise, still AppleTV has to become a great product with mass appeal in order to expand it to new areas of hardware. Until then forget about it. If it happens, will not change dynamics of the HDTV industry and the public perception IMHO.
Again AppleTV has to succeed first as stand alone product.

[DCJ001]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Jobs announced the release of non-GAPP financial results that expose the hidden, deferred revenues

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

I think it's "non-GAAP."

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by hmurchison

Of course. The purchase of P.A Semi has Netbook written all over it and Apple's newfound love for the "Cloud" is another.

I expect a $699-799 Apple "netbook" to hit within 18 months.

Actually I thought the purchase of PA had more "tablet" written all over it than netbook - a market Apple clearly doesn't want to enter (despite what they may or may not say on these calls). They aren't a me-too company. Doing the right kind of tablet will be better than doing another "netbook". Besides, the stuff netbooks are usually used for (chat, shorts spurts of web browsing and email); the iPhone does that stuff just fine.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by nace33

Wow, the comments on the AppleTV were really disheartening.

Don't be disheartened; Apple are just holding their cards close to their chest with all this "hobby" talk. It's all just misdirection.

[paxman]

Originally Posted by Anawrahta

You're right he didn't dismiss it. Although slapping an external KB on an iPhone hardly qualifies it as a netbook.

I am thinking (hoping?) next iteration. A KB doesn't have to be 'slapped on'. It could form part of a soft wallet of some sort. Even then the package would be very small.

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by Ireland

Actually I thought the purchase of PA had more "tablet" written all over it than netbook - a market Apple clearly doesn't want to enter (despite what they may or may not say on these calls). They aren't a me-too company. Doing the right kind of tablet will be better than doing another "netbook". Besides, the stuff netbooks are usually used for (chat, shorts spurts of web browsing and email); the iPhone does that stuff just fine.

Tablet is a worse market than Netbook. Table PC has been the great hype product of the last decade. I doubt Apple is going there as much as it may bother some people to hear. Steve Jobs recent comments about multitouch and desktops seems to confirm that they aren't looking to move Multi Touch into Desktop applications which to me means their interest in a Tablet is probably nil.

Apple "is" a me too company

They use X86 hardware
They standardize on industry standards

The only thing unique about Apple is industrial design and OS X. The rest of it what they offer is replicated easily by companies like Psystar.

Netbook Sales


http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile...er-fist-476362

Big slice of pie

Looking at the total computer market of just under 28 million sales in that period, netbooks have a very healthy seven per cent share, which is impressive for a category that didn't exist 18 months ago.

Unsurprisingly, Asus and Acer account for 80 per cent of those mini laptop sales, but with Samsung, HP and others ready to muscle in, we can expect that to change soon.

Tablet PC sales 2008

http://technicalconclusions.wordpres...01/tablet_pcs/

While the most recent statistics aren’t readily available, the total number of Tablet PC sales was under 1 million units (worldwide) in 2005. In terms of a percentage, that accounts for 1.5% of all “notebook” PC sales.

Sums it up nicely. Tablet PC are a no go.

[hillstones]

Apple did make a "cheap" PC style Mac, it was called the Power Mac 4400 and they used a very cheap PC clone box. See how successful that was? No one wants to buy a poorly made piece-of-shit box. Dell has that market covered. The Dells we have at work are truly noisy pieces of junk boxes. I don't want Apple making something like that. I would rather spend the money for a quality made computer.

[paxman]

Originally Posted by nace33

Wow, the comments on the AppleTV were really disheartening.

There is no way they will let this one die. It forms an integral part of the long term strategy. With the success of iTunes the ATV is a natural extension. I think the problem is that there hasn't been a great take up so far. People generally aren't linking the net and Television. I don't think a 'killer' app or piece of hardware will change that quickly. People are still, and will be for quite a while, too used to the 'old' model. The one thing that can speed the process up is content, by which I mean rental movies. When there are ten thousand (I have no idea what the magic number is) movies available for rent, including new releases, the take up will suddenly start to increase dramatically. This could easily be a few years away, though. AppleTV is more of a service than it is a product and most people are fairly happy with the traditional service. Its a hard one to crack.

[paxman]

Originally Posted by hillstones

Apple did make a "cheap" PC style Mac, it was called the Power Mac 4400 and they used a very cheap PC clone box. See how successful that was? No one wants to buy a poorly made piece-of-shit box. Dell has that market covered. The Dells we have at work are truly noisy pieces of junk boxes. I don't want Apple making something like that. I would rather spend the money for a quality made computer.

What are you talking about? I had the 4400 and I loved it! Well... I have always loved my Macs but I must confess, the 4400 was a horribly designed box. It was also extremely noisy. It sat on my desk with a 15" CTR on it. Very PC - like. Those were the days when I should have bought lots of Apple stock. DOH! Oh wait, I had no money for stocks. That's why I had the 4400

[hmurchison]

Apple's (and other vendors) "free lunch" is over.

With Comcast instituting Bandwidth caps and the studios reluctant to put themselves
into the same bind as the music studios I don't see Apple dominating video the way
they do music for the reasons gugy so articulately mentioned in his post.

Apple simply doesn't have the video playback device to rule them all like they had with the
iPod. Sometimes I think companies chase success in other areas based on some fallacious
hope that conquering another area is possible via the same methodology.

Broadcast
Cable
Satellite
Netflix/Blockbuster

All represent different ways to access media and frankly downloading media doesn't offer that much of an improvement over using the VoD services from incumbent media providers.

Video access is the new Gold Rush and and their are many companies panning for Gold but few will really be successful.

[KenC]

...his questioners. Where does he get the one-liners like the one about Babe Ruth? Brilliant!

As for netbooks, I saw a report that less than 1M had been sold in the US. As long as the numbers are low, Steve won't enter. It's like UMPCs, MIDs, HTPCs and now Netbooks. Apple doesn't have alot of engineers, and there's only one Steve. They can't make hundreds of products, and Steve has said so. They have to pick and choose, and they're going to pick and choose the most profitable businesses they find, where they can add their unique value.

It's far more likely that Apple won't make a netbook, that dumbs down a Macbook. It's not the Apple Way. It's far more likely that Apple will take an iPhone, and grow it into a netbook, with an iTab or iDevice. Something about double the size it is now. That's where PA Semi can fit, designing a low-power cpu, based on powerpc. Powerful as a laptop, but power-miserly as a iPhone. Something like that.

And, Steve said, if the netbook market takes off, they'll be watching and he has some good ideas about it. So there. It's in the research labs.

[gugy]

exactly hmurchison,

This is Apple biggest hurdle. If they conquer that AppleTV will become a huge success overnight.

Right now I think the device is cool, I hope for a bit more in order to buy it, but I am not dropping my satellite and DVR equipment for it yet. Still have a long way to go.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by hmurchison

Apple's (and other vendors) "free lunch" is over.

With Comcast instituting Bandwidth caps and the studios reluctant to put themselves
into the same bind as the music studios I don't see Apple dominating video the way
they do music for the reasons gugy so articulately mentioned in his post.

You have to be a gluttonous internet user to exceed Comcast's cap. I think it's the equivalent of downloading four of Apple's HD movies per day, every day.

[MacRonin]

I put it in another thread somewhere, but I will put it here also...

I think Apple just might make a netbook, but not just a netbook...

As much as I hate it, I think a convertible laptop/tablet might not be a bad idea. I am thinking a 10" touchscreen display, one that handles both multi-touch AND stylus input. Styled after the uni-body MacBook, just scaled down to a 10" model. 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD & backlit keyboard standard. Stylus stores in device, much like the stylus in a ModBook. Able to tether to an iPhone (or iPhone nano!) for 3G network access (when WiFi is not available). Internals would be somewhere between the Air and the MacBook.

Obviously, this would be in the upper-mid to high end of the netbook pricing spectrum...

I just don't like the idea of that pivot/swivel hinge...

[paxman]

Originally Posted by MacRonin

I put it in another thread somewhere, but I will put it here also...

I think Apple just might make a netbook, but not just a netbook...

As much as I hate it, I think a convertible laptop/tablet might not be a bad idea. I am thinking a 10" touchscreen display, one that handles both multi-touch AND stylus input. Styled after the uni-body MacBook, just scaled down to a 10" model. 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD & backlit keyboard standard. Stylus stores in device, much like the stylus in a ModBook. Able to tether to an iPhone (or iPhone nano!) for 3G network access (when WiFi is not available). Internals would be somewhere between the Air and the MacBook.

Obviously, this would be in the upper-mid to high end of the netbook pricing spectrum...

I just don't like the idea of that pivot/swivel hinge...

And what market segment would this be aimed at? I just can't see it. I mean, if you can't stick it in your pocket, why not get an Air or a MacBook?

[bloggerblog]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Jobs was also asked about Tablet computing and touch screens... I can't really talk about any of the future products we're working on, I'm sorry."

One thing for sure, a Tablet Mac is in the pipelines.

[DOSbox-gamer]

The Mini is NOT a piece of junk - not now, not ever. For the few that need or want a small, quiet desktop Mac (without a screen), the Mini is perfect. But, Apple *has to* update the graphics. Let's hope...

[BenRoethig]

Originally Posted by paxman

There is no way they will let this one die. It forms an integral part of the long term strategy. With the success of iTunes the ATV is a natural extension. I think the problem is that there hasn't been a great take up so far. People generally aren't linking the net and Television. I don't think a 'killer' app or piece of hardware will change that quickly. People are still, and will be for quite a while, too used to the 'old' model. The one thing that can speed the process up is content, by which I mean rental movies. When there are ten thousand (I have no idea what the magic number is) movies available for rent, including new releases, the take up will suddenly start to increase dramatically. This could easily be a few years away, though. AppleTV is more of a service than it is a product and most people are fairly happy with the traditional service. Its a hard one to crack.

Digital movies aren't quite where digital music is. Where digital music took lead to having your music much more accessible, digital movie in some aspects take a step backwards from DVD/Blu-Ray. The files are very large. The quality isn't as good. The DRM restricts where you can watch your movie. You can't let a friend borrow it, or take your movie to someone else's house. You are also very limited in what devices you can use it on. Lastly, You cannot import your existing library or export to an optical disc like you can with music.

[BB Sting]

[re] "Apple added another $3.7 billion in cash during the quarter, so it now has $24.5 billion "safely in the bank, and zero debt" Jobs noted. He spoke of "extraordinary opportunities" for companies in a time of economic downturn "with the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does," but wouldn't clarify how that might relate to any specific strategies, including new efforts to acquire other companies." [/re]



Apple's saving up their pennies for the big Yahoo acquisition