Apple Rumor Mill: Mac Netbook/Tablet in the Works

Although Steve Jobs and crew may have said at the recent MacBook event that Apple doesn’t have any netbooks planned for the near future, it is something that it will do eventually.

This makes sense, particularly after the new MacBook launch. Apple products, as some may argue, are premium products that have the premium price to go along with it. Netbooks should be no more than $500, and the price ceiling is one that Jobs is having an issue with.

“We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk,” Jobs said during an Apple earnings call. But you can bet they’re working on it. Jobs also asserted that Apple has some "interesting ideas" for the segment — just as Apple always does.

A blog over on the New York Times lays certain claims that Apple is indeed working on some sort of mobile internet device, going as far to say that it’s a netbook (but later hedging on it being an upgraded iPhone or NetMac). The source of the information is an unnamed search engine provider that supposedly “spotted Web visits from an unannounced Apple product with a display somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook.”

Steve Jobs said during the earnings call that Apple will use its resources creatively to steal market share from its competitors, so new products are always a possibility.