Apple Netbook fever is running rampant on the web when a report from China Times stated that several Taiwanese manufacturers have begun producing components for a forthcoming Apple netbook set to debut this fall.
According to the report, Apple has placed direct orders with three manufacturers to produce various elements of a finalized netbook product – Wintek, Dynapack, and Foxconn. The report also suggests that the rumored Apple netbook will go against the traditional characteristics of the netbook product type and will incorporate a screen of roughly 9.7-inches rather than the 10.1 or 10.2-inch displays of most compact netbooks.
With most netbooks in the affordable price range, I’m sure Apple’s version would be a gross luxury product similar to sony’s netbook.
Apple Netbook News
The new product will allegedly integrate a touch screen display, but China Times did not specify whether or not the product would include a physical keyboard or move toward a tablet-like design. As for pricing and availability, China Times’ sources say that the product will be priced at approximately $800 and will be announced this October, which falls into line with Apple’s regular fall notebook revisions.
After the news first broke with China Times’ article, more fuel was added to the fire when a source within PA Semi, a processor developer recently acquired by Apple, told VentureBeat that the company’s development team had been divided by Apple into two separate product projects – one centered around iPhones and iPods, the other around producing a processor for a tablet device. Despite the staggering coincidence of the two reports, it is by no means a confirmation of the product’s authenticity, the VentureBeat report points out that the chipset currently being developed by PA Semi is seemingly too early in the design process for a fall-release product.
It is entirely possible that Apple could be planning to release a tablet PC or netbook for a fall release, but as is typically the case, nothing is certain until it is official. Whatever the case may be, we’ll certainly be curious to see what Apple rolls out this fall.
via IGN
