I still have yet to pickup on this Netbook craze. Everyone is all “oooh” and “ahh” over these pint-size laptops, with their cramped little keyboards, sub 10″ screens, and custom linux distros that only do a few things. Why? Does anyone really need to be glued to their news feeds or Gmail to require a sub laptop? Is there really a niche between smartphones, media players, and laptops that needs to be filled with yet another product? I don’t think so. It’s just a new fad, and interim product till we get to thinner laptops. And it’s something cheap that can be sold by manufacturers to keep some profit coming in while everyone revolts against the market. I don’t see any sustainability in Netbooks outside of the hobbyist.
I also don’t get why everyone keeps criticizing Apple for not having one, or spreading rumors that they will have one at some point. Why? Apple already has two notebooks that fit in the category of “sub-notebook”, granted, they are a bit bigger than the normal Netbooks, but they are still small, and far more functional. I’m talking about the $999 13″ Macbook, based on the previous white model, and the super thin Macbook Air. While they are out of the price range of typical Netbooks, but they are far more functional, and have full size screens and keyboards. I would much rather spend the extra money one something I can get plenty of use out of as opposed to a cheap product that I can only do a few things on, then switch to a different product to do the rest. But I guess that’s just me. And we are talking about Apple here, if there isn’t a decent profit margin to be had, then it’s not worth their time and development. If they would fix some of the glaring omissions in the iPhone, they would have no need for a Netbook.