Lies, Damned Lies, and Apple Netbook Rumors

10.03.2009
The Web is rife with speculation about Apple's rumored netbook computer, which, depending on your source and/or pundit of choice, either: 1) may have a touch screen and may ship later this year; 2) may ship later this year, but whatever it is, it's not a netbook; 3) may not exist at all.

Monday's , courtesy of the Chinese-language Commercial Times, stated that Taiwan-based Quanta Computer would build an Apple netbook with touch screens supplied by Wintek. Tuesday's , courtesy of Dow Jones Newswires in Taipai, added this extra morsel: The alleged netbook may have a display that measures between 9.7 inches and 10 inches. Both reports say the Apple mini-note will ship in the second half of this year.

In the blogosphere, reaction is mixed. Those who find merit in the reports are speculating as to what an Apple netbook might look like. Om Malik suggests the device, like the iPod and iPhone before it, :

"Just as it redefined the MP3 player experience (with iPod) and reinvented the smartphone (with iPhone), Apple is going to pursue the netbook opportunity. But it won't be with anything like the cheap, anorexic laptops being sold as netbooks today."

Over at Salon, James Kendrick's an Apple netbook would be equipped with a multi-touch display and a physical keyboard:

"...touch-screens don't make for good typing devices, no matter how much attention to detail is given. First of all, you have no way to set the slate up for typing, flat on a surface is not conducive to touch typing. That's a moot point anyway with on-screen keyboards making for lousy touch typing input devices. No, the Apple netbook will have a keyboard I feel certain."