Apple’s ultra-portable laptop ‘delayed’ until 2009?

We’re stuffing this one firmly in the drawer marked ‘rumour’, but one analyst just published a report claiming Apple’s next product will be a tiny laptop to compete with the likes of the Eee PC. Trouble is, it’s not due until 2009.

According to UBS Investment Research’s Maynard Um, Apple had originally planned to introduce a tiny MacBook this year, complementing the MacBook Air, but with a much smaller display, giving it an overall size on par with the Asus Eee PC, MSI Wind and Acer Aspire One.

However, citing “industry checks,” Um now reckons it’ll arrive in the “first half of 2009.

We’re highly suspicious about all of this, although it’s not the first time an analyst has proclaimed Apple will enter the ‘ultra-small, ultra-cheap’ market.

Investment bank Piper Jaffray stuck its oar in last month, claiming Apple was working on a laptop that’d cost just £500 - a new low for Mac-branded computers.

Apple head honcho Steve Jobs has even hinted that the firm has a slew of new products lined up for the coming months. Could a cut-down MacBook be amongst them? Seems we’ll have to wait until next year to find out.

TBC | £TBC | Apple (via MacRumors)

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