Humm....a big rumor..I wondered why Apple was up ...5.28 points.
Because if it ISN'T a rumor, people are going to LOVE it
Other stocks are up b/c everyone knows that Dell and HP and Sony will try to retaliate. If they do it well or not doesn't matter (see: HP TouchSmart, DELL XPS1, Sony Vaio VGC)
It has to fit in a coat pocket. 7" screen is fine.
So it has to fit in a coat pocket? Why does it have to?
I'd rather have a case for it and have a way more useful device. Besides, they will be trying to make sure people know this isn't simply a bigger iPhone or iPod touch. The reason it needs to be 10" is two-fold. 1: screen real estate for a computer demands it be around that size or bigger. 2: It'll have a big touch keyboard across the screen that you will want to use both hands and all fingers on. 7" won't be big enough for that. You want a device that fits in your pocket, your coat pocket; get an iPhone. If you have an iPhone, then you don't need another device to do that.
That is very slick looking, but ultimately impractical.
Like having a touch screen keyboard on a phone? That phone seems to be selling alight. How you make a tablet computer more practical; is by running intelligent software on it, and by having a flip-out, or pop-out stand on its rear, you can call upon when you need it. Pop it out and put said tablet on any table or desk and type away. A lot of folks may find a notebook computer more practical, and if they do, Apple sells those.
Like having a touch screen keyboard on a phone? That phone seems to be selling alight.
Your sardonicism aside, I think that size touchscreen phone is very practical. In may ways more practical than a physical keyboard that is always there and never changes its key arrangement. But I don't see how a large touchscreen would be used by everyday people to do everyday tasks. I'm not says it can't, I'm saying that I can't see it. All I see are logistical pitfalls with trying to do typical PC work on such a device.
Take the iPod Touch and add a larger screen and some more power and the let the thing do some "lite" iWork tasks in addition the Touch apps which will get a few more features as well and call it the MacTouch.
Those expecting a MBP in a 10" form factor at a sub $800 price with handwriting recognition are in for a rude awakening.
When you go to an Apple Store, how many versions of OS X to you see? You see ONE
Now let's say you go to Best buy. How many versions of Vista do you see? 5 or 6? I don't know the exact number because it's way to many versions to begin with.
The OS X server OS you can only get from the online store. And mobile OS X you can only get on the mobile devices.
What I was trying to get at in my comment was that OS X has 1 version of it's mainstrem OS which is Leopard.
Vista has more than one version of vista and the same for Windows7.
Why? Why does microsoft make it such a cluster f*ck for customers?
Apple has proven that making one version of an OS that has all the features and does everything right of the box. No trial software etc.. None of that.
And one more thing: windows ultimate is what $400? I can buy OS X Leopard for $120
Boom... Enough said
I really want the PC fanboys say something else.
I am not a PC fanboy, I use both, but will chime in anyway.
You may as well ask the question as to why BMW don't just make one car and sell it to everyone.
It is called choice, giving people more freedom to decide what they want to buy and what they want to pay for it.
Microsoft earn most of their money from the Enterprise, this should not be a surprise to you. They have a licensing model that enables them to get the most amount of money per license sold into the enterprise. Problem is that consumers are not usually willing to pay enterprise prices for any software that they see mainly not for commercial use. Consumers tend to use the software less, need less support and do not require all the features of a pro OS. And therefore do not want to pay $400 for a license. Microsoft then delivers a 'home' version, the lack of a few features is irrelevant, the price is the reason for doing it.
Why do you think this is a bad thing? If Apple had any kind of foothold in the Enterprise market do you not think they would be doing the same thing with OSX? Of course they would. There is no way that Steve Jobs would sell OSX to business for $179 if he thought he could get $300.
Why do airlines have business class? Why do hotels have cheaper rates available for tourists?
Business pays top dollar and consumers pay less in many different ways. Why should software be any different.
As I said it is only because of OSX's lack of presence in business that you are only saying this. To most people it is a good model.
And please, do you really think your average consumer is confused by choice? You need to get into the supermarkets more. There are something like 473,733,338,321 different brands and derivatives of washing powder on the shelves, is America facing a crisis of dirty clothes because people are facing a "cluster f***" of choice???
Humm....a big rumor..I wondered why Apple was up ...5.28 points.
If you follow the broader market, and not just AAPL, you'll see that the entire market is up due to "positive" news from Citibank (which is actually not really THAT positive).
Edit: Darn it, a couple of others beat me to the reply...
It will cost more because it will probably need a much stronger battery to drive that screen and CPU. Starting at $1,099- $999 would compete with the white iBook. This will kill the Kindle, netbooks and the MBA- thank god.
How on earth would a $1,099 netbook kill the Kindle?
That is like saying that the new BMW X6 will kill sales of Plasma's because it has a couple of LCD's in the back seats.
The Kindle is a great device, it is intended only as a reader, it has a battery that lasts for days due in no small part to the fact it does not require a backlit screen. This is the one thing that makes it perfect at what it is. You can read small text all day with no eye strain, something you cannot do on a computer. This is a good thing, why do you think it is a bad thing?
The only way that any new netbook will kill the Kindle would be if it were $300, had an option to turn off the backlight and yet still read crystal clear fonts and have a battery that lasted as long as an ipod.
In other words, don't be silly. Next you will be telling me that a new Apple TV will kill sales of frying pans just because theoretically you can fry an egg on it.
This contradicts itself. If the keyboard is virtual, then it doesn't need a physical keyboard and if there is no physical keyboard, then there is no need for the clamshell form factor.
Also, if it is a clamshell, then Apple violates it's own rule of never having sub-sized keyboards that they have repeated many times of late, and if they are going to break that rule, then why not just make the 12" MacBook that everyone has wanted for so long?
Not saying for sure it won't happen, but it seems more likely to me that it's a small tablet with iPhone OS-X and a larger version of the same virtual thumb-type keyboards. I predict it will be released at the same time as a new "super-iPhone" with much more power and multi-tasking and that the two together will redefine the OS (again) as more of a real computing platform. If they manage to pull it off, a tablet like this could be more useful and ultimately more popular than the iPhone IMO.
There is no way that Apple will be stupid enough to release a tablet as a mas-market computer device. Maybe one day they will release an expensive one for the nerds that does not require a great deal sold to be profitable but any serious netbook offering will not be a tablet.
I really do not understand why so many people on here have the believe that a tablet would be a great thing? Can you not all get passed the coolness factor and actually think about using a 10" iphone for a minute?
How do you use it? Balance it across your knee while you try to type on a virtual keyboard? on a train, on a plane? really? What stops it flying off your knee every 5 minutes? Maybe you can hold it in one hand while you type with the other?
Unlike a notebook which is much more stable and suited to having on a knee being that the screen is raised and pointed towards your eyes, the physical act of using a tablet means it will be balanced on the end of your knees and you would spend so much time hunched down over it Apple would be hit with so many lawsuits for crippling half of its customers.
It just aint gonna happen. Seriously, never. I am surprised not more people can see this. Design is not just about looks or cool features folks, it is about practicality and usability too. A 10" iPhone is neither.
The most likely scenario is a clamshell netbook with the keyboard replaced by a full size multi-touch screen. This is where your virtual keyboard would live but your actual viewing screen would be in the usual notebook place.
But to be honest, screw the virtual keyboard Apple, just put a real one on there. It is a design that cannot be beaten, keys are good, actually I would never buy a notebook without them.
Microsoft earn most of their money from the Enterprise...
Get real.
Sorry but that dog won't hunt. Microsoft has four (4), consumer editions of vista:
1. Starter
2. Home Basic
3. Home Premium
4. Home Ultimate
And I'm not counting "Business", which is not an enterprise level product either, since that would be the appropriately named Vista Enterprise edition, not to be confused with any of the various server editions.
I can certainly accept that a separate consumer edition, for the reasons you outlined, makes some sense. However, Microsoft has four, and it is quite confusing to consumers. For example, many people who get Premium understand by the name that they got the best one. Others imagine that Starter is designed to help first-time users, rather than being a crippled version. So it goes.
The reason Microsoft has this mess is that it is run by a salesman, not a product guy. Ballmer came up through sales. In sales you don't care about anything except making your numbers, and "flooding the zone" with price points is a common tactic.
Certainly product coherence has nothing to do with it, and it shows.
Sorry but that dog won't hunt. Microsoft has four (4), consumer editions of vista:
1. Starter
2. Home Basic
3. Home Premium
4. Home Ultimate
And I'm not counting "Business", which is not an enterprise level product either, since that would be the appropriately named Vista Enterprise edition, not to be confused with any of the various server editions.
I can certainly accept that a separate consumer edition, for the reasons you outlined, makes some sense. However, Microsoft has four, and it is quite confusing to consumers. For example, many people who get Premium understand by the name that they got the best one. Others imagine that Starter is designed to help first-time users, rather than being a crippled version. So it goes.
The reason Microsoft has this mess is that it is run by a salesman, not a product guy. Ballmer came up through sales, and in sales you don't care about anything except making your numbers, and "flooding the zone" with price points is a common tactic.
Certainly product coherence has nothing to do with it, and it shows.
But it is not a mess, this is the only place in my life I have ever heard of anybody being confused by different versions of Windows. Honestly, I am not lying. Nobody has ever, ever expressed that opinion before.
I struggle to understand how the biggest selling Computer OS is in such a mess? What an odd thing to say.
Oh, you really need to get up to speed on your Apple history. Steve Jobs is really just a salesman, a bloody good one, but the fact is that his contribution to Apple has always been about selling.
*Please people don't chime in about how much more SJ does than just sell, I know what a salesman does, good sales people never just sell products, they also help direct a company and its products. But my point is SJ is not less of a salesman that Balmer.
Sorry but that dog won't hunt. Microsoft has four (4), consumer The reason Microsoft has this mess is that it is run by a salesman, not a product guy. Ballmer came up through sales. In sales you don't care about anything except making your numbers, and "flooding the zone" with price points is a common tactic.
Certainly product coherence has nothing to do with it, and it shows.
I am sorry, but I have to comment again on this.
I am a salesman in enterprise IT and software and I have got no idea what you are talking about so therefore can only assume neither do you.
"flooding the zone with price points" is not something I have ever done.
Product coherence is the one of the biggest parts of my job.
And I certainly care much more than just making numbers.
This goes for every single professional salesman I have ever worked with or known.
I really do not understand why so many people on here have the believe that a tablet would be a great thing? Can you not all get passed the coolness factor and actually think about using a 10" iphone for a minute?
Well, I mentioned that I think 10" is way too big. But let me get back to your point about the form factor. You say a notebook (clamshell) is stable. Well, it sure is stable on a desk. But if you are standing on the subway or a bus, could you hold a clamshell notebook in your hand to read the news or your emails?
Ya see what I'm getting at? The notebook form factor is desk based. Sure, you can have one on your lap for a while, but that's not very comfortable, and in any case you need to be sitting in an upright position.
Standing, or reclining on a couch, a tablet is much better, so long as it is not too large. The Kindle is about right, but it has wide borders and a smallish screen. Make the screen a little bigger, and you are there.
Well, I mentioned that I think 10" is way too big. But let me get back to your point about the form factor. You say a notebook (clamshell) is stable. Well, it sure is stable on a desk. But if you are standing on the subway or a bus, could you hold a clamshell notebook in your hand to read the news or your emails?
Ya see what I'm getting at? The notebook form factor is desk based. Sure, you can have one on your lap for a while, but that's not very comfortable, and in any case you need to be sitting in an upright position.
Standing, or reclining on a couch, a tablet is much better, so long as it is not too large. The Kindle is about right, but it has wide borders and a smallish screen. Make the screen a little bigger, and you are there.
See the kindle is a different product, it is a reading device and not an input device. The form factor is perfect for something that does not require much interactive (bar turning a page).
People do not buy netbooks to hold them up in front of their face and read things off, they buy netbooks to take their most used apps on the road with them easily.
What you are proposing is not a netbook but a completely different device, you are talking about a larger iPod touch. This is a very limited product for a very limited market. Who is gonna spend $600+ on something like that when you can get a Dell Mini 9 plus change for something much more flexible.
I cannot see a real need for a device that only becomes really useful for people who want to read email (but not send replies!) while standing on a train. Besides, is that not what the iPhone/iPod touch is already for? It was only last year I was being told it was the best browsing and email machine ever - is it not that good anymore?
My whole point is that it just does not make any logical sense as a product, it does not really meet a demand or a need. Good products always meet a need. A traditional netbook from Apple will meet a need because there are lots of people buying netbooks and many of them might well buy one running OSX.
I'm talking about consumer sales. Enterprise sales are totally different. I spent years at a large enterprise software company and though I was not in sales, I'm familiar with the process.
By "flooding the zone" I simply meant having an excessive number of price points for basically the same product.
If you can find any technical or usability justification for four consumer editions of Vista, you must know something I don't. The feature sets are completely arbitrary.
Comments
Humm....a big rumor..I wondered why Apple was up ...5.28 points.
Because if it ISN'T a rumor, people are going to LOVE it
Other stocks are up b/c everyone knows that Dell and HP and Sony will try to retaliate. If they do it well or not doesn't matter (see: HP TouchSmart, DELL XPS1, Sony Vaio VGC)
It has to fit in a coat pocket. 7" screen is fine.
So it has to fit in a coat pocket? Why does it have to?
I'd rather have a case for it and have a way more useful device. Besides, they will be trying to make sure people know this isn't simply a bigger iPhone or iPod touch. The reason it needs to be 10" is two-fold. 1: screen real estate for a computer demands it be around that size or bigger. 2: It'll have a big touch keyboard across the screen that you will want to use both hands and all fingers on. 7" won't be big enough for that. You want a device that fits in your pocket, your coat pocket; get an iPhone. If you have an iPhone, then you don't need another device to do that.
That is very slick looking, but ultimately impractical.
Like having a touch screen keyboard on a phone? That phone seems to be selling alight. How you make a tablet computer more practical; is by running intelligent software on it, and by having a flip-out, or pop-out stand on its rear, you can call upon when you need it. Pop it out and put said tablet on any table or desk and type away. A lot of folks may find a notebook computer more practical, and if they do, Apple sells those.
That is some bad math.
Like having a touch screen keyboard on a phone? That phone seems to be selling alight.
Your sardonicism aside, I think that size touchscreen phone is very practical. In may ways more practical than a physical keyboard that is always there and never changes its key arrangement. But I don't see how a large touchscreen would be used by everyday people to do everyday tasks. I'm not says it can't, I'm saying that I can't see it. All I see are logistical pitfalls with trying to do typical PC work on such a device.
Humm....a big rumor..I wondered why Apple was up ...5.28 points.
The NASDAQ was up 7% today. Apple is just going with the market. The rumor has nothing to do with it.
Humm....a big rumor..I wondered why Apple was up ...5.28 points.
Those expecting a MBP in a 10" form factor at a sub $800 price with handwriting recognition are in for a rude awakening.
When you go to an Apple Store, how many versions of OS X to you see? You see ONE
Now let's say you go to Best buy. How many versions of Vista do you see? 5 or 6? I don't know the exact number because it's way to many versions to begin with.
The OS X server OS you can only get from the online store. And mobile OS X you can only get on the mobile devices.
What I was trying to get at in my comment was that OS X has 1 version of it's mainstrem OS which is Leopard.
Vista has more than one version of vista and the same for Windows7.
Why? Why does microsoft make it such a cluster f*ck for customers?
Apple has proven that making one version of an OS that has all the features and does everything right of the box. No trial software etc.. None of that.
And one more thing: windows ultimate is what $400? I can buy OS X Leopard for $120
Boom... Enough said
I really want the PC fanboys say something else.
I am not a PC fanboy, I use both, but will chime in anyway.
You may as well ask the question as to why BMW don't just make one car and sell it to everyone.
It is called choice, giving people more freedom to decide what they want to buy and what they want to pay for it.
Microsoft earn most of their money from the Enterprise, this should not be a surprise to you. They have a licensing model that enables them to get the most amount of money per license sold into the enterprise. Problem is that consumers are not usually willing to pay enterprise prices for any software that they see mainly not for commercial use. Consumers tend to use the software less, need less support and do not require all the features of a pro OS. And therefore do not want to pay $400 for a license. Microsoft then delivers a 'home' version, the lack of a few features is irrelevant, the price is the reason for doing it.
Why do you think this is a bad thing? If Apple had any kind of foothold in the Enterprise market do you not think they would be doing the same thing with OSX? Of course they would. There is no way that Steve Jobs would sell OSX to business for $179 if he thought he could get $300.
Why do airlines have business class? Why do hotels have cheaper rates available for tourists?
Business pays top dollar and consumers pay less in many different ways. Why should software be any different.
As I said it is only because of OSX's lack of presence in business that you are only saying this. To most people it is a good model.
And please, do you really think your average consumer is confused by choice? You need to get into the supermarkets more. There are something like 473,733,338,321 different brands and derivatives of washing powder on the shelves, is America facing a crisis of dirty clothes because people are facing a "cluster f***" of choice???
Get real.
Humm....a big rumor..I wondered why Apple was up ...5.28 points.
If you follow the broader market, and not just AAPL, you'll see that the entire market is up due to "positive" news from Citibank (which is actually not really THAT positive).
Edit: Darn it, a couple of others beat me to the reply...
It will cost more because it will probably need a much stronger battery to drive that screen and CPU. Starting at $1,099- $999 would compete with the white iBook. This will kill the Kindle, netbooks and the MBA- thank god.
How on earth would a $1,099 netbook kill the Kindle?
That is like saying that the new BMW X6 will kill sales of Plasma's because it has a couple of LCD's in the back seats.
The Kindle is a great device, it is intended only as a reader, it has a battery that lasts for days due in no small part to the fact it does not require a backlit screen. This is the one thing that makes it perfect at what it is. You can read small text all day with no eye strain, something you cannot do on a computer. This is a good thing, why do you think it is a bad thing?
The only way that any new netbook will kill the Kindle would be if it were $300, had an option to turn off the backlight and yet still read crystal clear fonts and have a battery that lasted as long as an ipod.
In other words, don't be silly. Next you will be telling me that a new Apple TV will kill sales of frying pans just because theoretically you can fry an egg on it.
Also isn't that a diss at the MacBook Air - referring to it as a netbook?
No, because the MacBook Air has never been considered a Netbook.
This contradicts itself. If the keyboard is virtual, then it doesn't need a physical keyboard and if there is no physical keyboard, then there is no need for the clamshell form factor.
Also, if it is a clamshell, then Apple violates it's own rule of never having sub-sized keyboards that they have repeated many times of late, and if they are going to break that rule, then why not just make the 12" MacBook that everyone has wanted for so long?
Not saying for sure it won't happen, but it seems more likely to me that it's a small tablet with iPhone OS-X and a larger version of the same virtual thumb-type keyboards. I predict it will be released at the same time as a new "super-iPhone" with much more power and multi-tasking and that the two together will redefine the OS (again) as more of a real computing platform. If they manage to pull it off, a tablet like this could be more useful and ultimately more popular than the iPhone IMO.
There is no way that Apple will be stupid enough to release a tablet as a mas-market computer device. Maybe one day they will release an expensive one for the nerds that does not require a great deal sold to be profitable but any serious netbook offering will not be a tablet.
I really do not understand why so many people on here have the believe that a tablet would be a great thing? Can you not all get passed the coolness factor and actually think about using a 10" iphone for a minute?
How do you use it? Balance it across your knee while you try to type on a virtual keyboard? on a train, on a plane? really? What stops it flying off your knee every 5 minutes? Maybe you can hold it in one hand while you type with the other?
Unlike a notebook which is much more stable and suited to having on a knee being that the screen is raised and pointed towards your eyes, the physical act of using a tablet means it will be balanced on the end of your knees and you would spend so much time hunched down over it Apple would be hit with so many lawsuits for crippling half of its customers.
It just aint gonna happen. Seriously, never. I am surprised not more people can see this. Design is not just about looks or cool features folks, it is about practicality and usability too. A 10" iPhone is neither.
The most likely scenario is a clamshell netbook with the keyboard replaced by a full size multi-touch screen. This is where your virtual keyboard would live but your actual viewing screen would be in the usual notebook place.
But to be honest, screw the virtual keyboard Apple, just put a real one on there. It is a design that cannot be beaten, keys are good, actually I would never buy a notebook without them.
tYpsed in MY ipHonze.
Microsoft earn most of their money from the Enterprise...
Get real.
Sorry but that dog won't hunt. Microsoft has four (4), consumer editions of vista:
1. Starter
2. Home Basic
3. Home Premium
4. Home Ultimate
And I'm not counting "Business", which is not an enterprise level product either, since that would be the appropriately named Vista Enterprise edition, not to be confused with any of the various server editions.
I can certainly accept that a separate consumer edition, for the reasons you outlined, makes some sense. However, Microsoft has four, and it is quite confusing to consumers. For example, many people who get Premium understand by the name that they got the best one. Others imagine that Starter is designed to help first-time users, rather than being a crippled version. So it goes.
The reason Microsoft has this mess is that it is run by a salesman, not a product guy. Ballmer came up through sales. In sales you don't care about anything except making your numbers, and "flooding the zone" with price points is a common tactic.
Certainly product coherence has nothing to do with it, and it shows.
I find it strange that you champion the Sony simply because of a cheap plastic matte that few people want...
You're generally pretty solid poster, but for chrissakes, don't be daft on this. People do care.
http://www.macosxhints.com/polls/ind...8glossy&aid=-1
Sorry but that dog won't hunt. Microsoft has four (4), consumer editions of vista:
1. Starter
2. Home Basic
3. Home Premium
4. Home Ultimate
And I'm not counting "Business", which is not an enterprise level product either, since that would be the appropriately named Vista Enterprise edition, not to be confused with any of the various server editions.
I can certainly accept that a separate consumer edition, for the reasons you outlined, makes some sense. However, Microsoft has four, and it is quite confusing to consumers. For example, many people who get Premium understand by the name that they got the best one. Others imagine that Starter is designed to help first-time users, rather than being a crippled version. So it goes.
The reason Microsoft has this mess is that it is run by a salesman, not a product guy. Ballmer came up through sales, and in sales you don't care about anything except making your numbers, and "flooding the zone" with price points is a common tactic.
Certainly product coherence has nothing to do with it, and it shows.
But it is not a mess, this is the only place in my life I have ever heard of anybody being confused by different versions of Windows. Honestly, I am not lying. Nobody has ever, ever expressed that opinion before.
I struggle to understand how the biggest selling Computer OS is in such a mess? What an odd thing to say.
Oh, you really need to get up to speed on your Apple history. Steve Jobs is really just a salesman, a bloody good one, but the fact is that his contribution to Apple has always been about selling.
*Please people don't chime in about how much more SJ does than just sell, I know what a salesman does, good sales people never just sell products, they also help direct a company and its products. But my point is SJ is not less of a salesman that Balmer.
Sorry but that dog won't hunt. Microsoft has four (4), consumer The reason Microsoft has this mess is that it is run by a salesman, not a product guy. Ballmer came up through sales. In sales you don't care about anything except making your numbers, and "flooding the zone" with price points is a common tactic.
Certainly product coherence has nothing to do with it, and it shows.
I am sorry, but I have to comment again on this.
I am a salesman in enterprise IT and software and I have got no idea what you are talking about so therefore can only assume neither do you.
"flooding the zone with price points" is not something I have ever done.
Product coherence is the one of the biggest parts of my job.
And I certainly care much more than just making numbers.
This goes for every single professional salesman I have ever worked with or known.
What are you talking about?
I really do not understand why so many people on here have the believe that a tablet would be a great thing? Can you not all get passed the coolness factor and actually think about using a 10" iphone for a minute?
Well, I mentioned that I think 10" is way too big. But let me get back to your point about the form factor. You say a notebook (clamshell) is stable. Well, it sure is stable on a desk. But if you are standing on the subway or a bus, could you hold a clamshell notebook in your hand to read the news or your emails?
Ya see what I'm getting at? The notebook form factor is desk based. Sure, you can have one on your lap for a while, but that's not very comfortable, and in any case you need to be sitting in an upright position.
Standing, or reclining on a couch, a tablet is much better, so long as it is not too large. The Kindle is about right, but it has wide borders and a smallish screen. Make the screen a little bigger, and you are there.
Well, I mentioned that I think 10" is way too big. But let me get back to your point about the form factor. You say a notebook (clamshell) is stable. Well, it sure is stable on a desk. But if you are standing on the subway or a bus, could you hold a clamshell notebook in your hand to read the news or your emails?
Ya see what I'm getting at? The notebook form factor is desk based. Sure, you can have one on your lap for a while, but that's not very comfortable, and in any case you need to be sitting in an upright position.
Standing, or reclining on a couch, a tablet is much better, so long as it is not too large. The Kindle is about right, but it has wide borders and a smallish screen. Make the screen a little bigger, and you are there.
See the kindle is a different product, it is a reading device and not an input device. The form factor is perfect for something that does not require much interactive (bar turning a page).
People do not buy netbooks to hold them up in front of their face and read things off, they buy netbooks to take their most used apps on the road with them easily.
What you are proposing is not a netbook but a completely different device, you are talking about a larger iPod touch. This is a very limited product for a very limited market. Who is gonna spend $600+ on something like that when you can get a Dell Mini 9 plus change for something much more flexible.
I cannot see a real need for a device that only becomes really useful for people who want to read email (but not send replies!) while standing on a train. Besides, is that not what the iPhone/iPod touch is already for? It was only last year I was being told it was the best browsing and email machine ever - is it not that good anymore?
My whole point is that it just does not make any logical sense as a product, it does not really meet a demand or a need. Good products always meet a need. A traditional netbook from Apple will meet a need because there are lots of people buying netbooks and many of them might well buy one running OSX.
What are you talking about?
I'm talking about consumer sales. Enterprise sales are totally different. I spent years at a large enterprise software company and though I was not in sales, I'm familiar with the process.
By "flooding the zone" I simply meant having an excessive number of price points for basically the same product.
If you can find any technical or usability justification for four consumer editions of Vista, you must know something I don't. The feature sets are completely arbitrary.