The rumour mill is rocking to the beat of a new Apple netbook. So what’s on the cards? Apple’s let slip a few choice hints that a mini MacBook will soon be gracing our credit card statements. Want the skinny? Read on and follow our detective work.
1. Steve Jobs admits netbooks are interesting
When Steve Jobs says something’s interesting, it’s worth taking note. That’s exactly what happened back in October, when the Apple boss stated that his design team has “some pretty interesting ideas” for the netbook market.
He made the tell-tale statement during Apple’s fourth quarterly earnings conference last year, letting the whole world know that Apple’s thinking about netbooks, and is far from simply dismissing the concept, despite Jobs claiming there are “not a lot of them getting sold.”
2. Apple’s software suggests a netbook is coming
We’ve already seen how Safari 4 points towards new iPhone features. It incorporates a ton of new features that’ll be very finger friendly if they can be ported to Apple’s mobile phone. But maybe they don’t need to be.
Maybe what Apple’s actually crafting in Safari 4 is the perfect browser for its own touchscreen netbook. We have to say, web history in Coverflow mode would make perfect sense on a 10 inch screen.
And what of OS X Snow Leopard? We know it’s getting the same touchscreen technology as the iPhone and iPod touch, and location-sensing abilities too. So that tells us a touchscreen Mac is coming, and we’d put money on an Apple netbook being the first one.
3. Search engines have seen one
Each computer has a sort of ‘digital fingerprint.’ It lets web servers know snippets of information: like which software it’s running, what screen resolution it supports. In October, an insider at an unnamed search engine told the New York Times that its usage logs had picked up some surfing by an unusual Apple product.
According to the insider, the unannounced product had a screen resolution higher than the iPhone, but lower than its laptop range. That points towards the finger firmly in the direction of a netbook-sized device. It exists, somewhere. It’s up to Apple whether it ever sees the light of day.
4. Manufacturers are talking about it
Apple doesn’t make its own hardware. At least, it doesn’t own the plants that make it. It works with manufacturing firms in the Far East, and while its designers often come up with unique manufacturing techniques, it’s the 3rd party companies that’ll actually put the pieces together.
And this week, those companies started leaking Apple netbook flavoured information. According to Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times, Apple already has deals with Taiwanese company Wintek to be supply a touchscreen display, while Quanta Computer will be responsible for putting all the Apple netbook pieces together.
5. Mobile networks are talking about it
In case you’ve lived under a rock for the last 12 months, mobile networks have a huge crush on netbooks. They’re all hawking tiny laptops to shepherd customers onto wireless broadband tariffs.
Apple has extremely close ties with mobile networks, thanks to the iPhone, and it won’t have escaped Steve Jobs’ attention that there’s an opportunity to make money there. AT&T’s president of Emerging Devices, Glenn Lurie, has even hinted that Apple’s working on something along the lines of a netbook, stating: “We’re having conversations with lots of folks. I would very much like to do more business with Apple, and hope that we do.”
