Like a moth to a very hot pattern, Apple (AAPL) will fly into your netbook flame and get burned.
The company will unveil a 10-inch touch-screen tablet laptop or computer someday this yr, say analysts. Not simply does Apple desire to showcase its style prowess, the business desperately wants a fresh hit to revitalize its personal computer line-up. Mac product sales fell 16% from year-ago stages final month.
No question, the tablet will dazzle Apple supporters who usually will not feel twice about paying upwards of $2,000 for the latest, best Mac. But beyond the core fan base, Apple will find out what other Personal computer makers have acknowledged to get a although: Consumers find massive tablets tough to swallow.
(My colleague James Rogers writes about how Apple could have respectable margins on Netbooks.)
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ),
Office Professional Plus 2010 Key, Gateway, Lenovo all make tablet notebooks for around $1,400,
Windows 7 Download, and none score nicely on any attractiveness indexes.
There's a much more eye-opening index that Apple investors should most likely heed. 9 in the ten bestselling computer systems at Amazon as of today had been netbooks. And only one marketed for over $400. In contrast, the typical value of an Apple computer is $1,400,
Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Plus, or the equivalent of three-and-a-half netbooks.
Apple isn't totally oblivious on the cheapness behind the netbook's attractiveness; it's just the firm has often thought that style trumps cost. The iPod, for instance,
Office Home And Student 2010 Key, crushed the cheaper opposition in new music players.
Last yr, properly ahead of netbooks grew to become the clear client hit,
Windows 7 Starter Key, Apple chief Steve Employment observed the path pcs have been headed and started operate on the tablet sub-notebook, in accordance to people acquainted with the improvement plans.