"Having that control is really important to them," said Gottheil, "especially as a way to cut off any security problems. They would not want to ever see a virus on something like this."

But Gottheil was sticking to his "iPod on steroids" vision of whatever Apple introduces to fill the gap between the top-end iPhone and the low-end MacBook Pro. "That's more likely, I think, than a traditional 'netbook,'" he said. "Even outside of Apple, this has to happen. PCs, even Macs, are a combination of a professional tool and a hobbyist's device."