Yet another analyst has suggested Apple should sell a netbook, a market Cupertino has expressed luke-warm interest in, at best. Undaunted, however, an analyst Monday put forth what might be called the Goldilocks theory of netbooks.
A $599 netbook would pass Apple’s ‘junk’ test while also retaining the high margins to which investors have become accustom, argued Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall.
Marshall thinks Apple could unveil a netbook – outfitted with a 10.1-inch screen, a 16GB hard drive and ARM chip. The $599 price tag would provide a hefty 50 percent margin over PC netbooks and be close enough to the $999 entry-level MacBook that it would be a “material difference,” Marshall told Computerworld.
In 2008, Apple CEO Steve Jobs dismissed the idea of his company producing a low-cost computer. “We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of Junk,” Jobs told financial analysts.
The impetus for Apple would be the hard-pressed computer market which doesn’t allow for much growth for Apple’s higher-priced desktop and laptop models.
Instead of computer sales, the analyst envisions netbooks as the perfect distribution platform for Apple software and technology, such as touchscreen features and the iLife application suite.
