My thoughts about the Air (though I don't really know) was that they sort of put it out there & let Moore's Law get to work.
It's not a very practical product as is.
I imagine the attractiveness of a netbok to Apple is that it is an addition. You can have a laptop or desktop (probably not both) & a netbook & an iphone.
If it is a non cannibalising category, then it's right up Apple's game. They know & love small. It's another opportunity to brag about OSX as Windows isn't right for these. Most importantly, they know & love out-of-the-box.
There's a real market for these. It's certainly not the giant hardware guys that created it. They're supplying happily enough, but it came out of the margins. Microsoft sure isn't pushing it, these are a nightmare for them. Linux isn't working out. Who's left?
Cheap is part of the job description here. Cheap, small & out of the box. Apples is very good at 2 out of those 3. It's also another in for selling full Macs.
"Linux isn't working out"
Why do you say that. Linux has the highest share of this market than any other place. More than 50% and Ubuntu is making a special Vendor only distribution just for Netbooks. Only recently is XP being offered and this as a direct response to Linux.
Well Linux had the first mover advantage. But it seems to be losing ground. I was in two chain retailers recently & neither carried any linux netbooks (but 3-4 windows each). I've seen a couple of these recently:http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22362/53/
And Windows is gaining this ground with a 7 year old product that isn't suitable for this job. All the while cursing every sale they make. They're not exactly gung-ho excited about making brilliant netbooks. But they're still taking over.
If no one challenges & the demand persists, MS may eventually actually come out with some Windows that is suited to the job.
It's not a very practical product as is.
I imagine the attractiveness of a netbok to Apple is that it is an addition. You can have a laptop or desktop (probably not both) & a netbook & an iphone.
If it is a non cannibalising category, then it's right up Apple's game. They know & love small. It's another opportunity to brag about OSX as Windows isn't right for these. Most importantly, they know & love out-of-the-box.
There's a real market for these. It's certainly not the giant hardware guys that created it. They're supplying happily enough, but it came out of the margins. Microsoft sure isn't pushing it, these are a nightmare for them. Linux isn't working out. Who's left?
Cheap is part of the job description here. Cheap, small & out of the box. Apples is very good at 2 out of those 3. It's also another in for selling full Macs.