Steve Jobs may have said that they’d never builda netbook, but they’ve come closer than ver with the new MacBook Air. With a starting price of $999 (USD) for the 11.6″ screen version, it’s about 2-3 times more expensive than a netbook, but you do get more powerful hardware than most netbooks as well.  There’s also a 13.3″ version that starts at at $1299 with 128GB of storage.

The new Macbook Air comes with SSD (solid state drive) only, in 64gb and 128gb  versions.  We’re sure most, if not all laptops eventually will utilize an SSD drive, but for now it’s still to expensive for most netbooks.  SlashGear also reports that the laptop has a full sized keyboard and the same huge multitouch trackpad found on larger Mac laptops.Laptop Magazine reports the unibody aluminum case makes the MacBook Air feel much sturdier than most netbooks.

Overall, the MacBook Air looks looks like a solid ultraportable from Apple, and it’s another good option to the trend of hackintosh netbooks if you want OSX and have the cash to spare.

Apple said they would never produce a netbook, but today they came another step closer my offering their Macbook Air with an 11.6″ screen.  The Macbook Air, which previously only came with a 13.3″ screen, has always been quite netbook like due to its low weight and lack of an optical drive.

The new Macbook Air does offer more power than a typical netbook, thanks to its Intel Core 2 Duo processor and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, and of course a much higher price to go with it.

What: Apple’s latest product, speculated to be called the iTablet or iSlate. The latest rumours have it as a 10″ screened slim tablet like device.  Most likely no physical keyboard (in lieu of an on-screen KB).  Rumours

When: The official announcement is Wednesday, January 27th @ 10am. announced that , which might indicated that iTablets are already ready and will ship immediately following the announcement.

Price: Less than $1000 or ~ £600

Latest News:

- Mobile app analytics company Flurry is saying that it’s detected around 50 devices on Apple’s Cupertino campus that have the “characteristics” of a tablet, running a new version of the iPhone OS numbered 3.2. How? Around 200 different apps with Flurry’s tracking code were downloaded and used on these mystery devices — mostly games, followed by entertainment and media apps — and Flurry first noticed this new device in October, with numbers picking up in January.

- The Apple Tablet May Come With A Barnes & Noble Bookstore.  Will Apple’s new Tablet put the Kindle to shame?  [Engadget]

Check out the latest Applet Tablet news on our feature section here.

Apple Tablet Mockup

The WSJ is reporting that the rumoured Apple Tablet device will ship in March after an announcement late January probably the 27th or the 28th, according to various sources. The Wall Street Journal writes:

Apple Inc. plans to unveil a new multimedia tablet device later this month, but doesn’t plan on shipping the product until March, people briefed by the company said.

New rumours indicatate that the tablet will sell for under $1000 USD (~600GBP),. come in multiple finishes and may be bundled with a Wifi and/or 3g data service plan.

OSX 10.6.2 update is out, and no Intel Atom support.

First it was, then it wasn’t, then it was again, but now it’s official.  Support for the tiny but mighty Intel Atom processor has been dropped in the latest release of Apple’s popular OSX operating system.  So what exactly does that mean?

Well, for one, if you want a Hackintosh, you’ll need to stick to one of the earlier versions of OSX, and you won’t be getting any software updates from Apple anytime soon.

Secondly, it definately makes us wonder about Apple’s rumoured Netbook/Tablet.  This seems to make it clear that it won’t be running an Atom processor.  Perhaps it will be ARM powered, coupled with Nvidia’s Tegra graphics chipset?  Nvidia’s CEO boasted recently that his household was ‘all Apple’ and the image after the break certainly raises a few questions…

Nvidia's CEO with a mystery tablet

Apple iTablet Patent

According to a report in Barron’s, a financial investment news site, an individual only described as a  “veteran analyst” has actually had Apple’s highly speculated new netbook/tablet/net-tablet – or whatever you want to call it.  Barron’s has quite a reputation to uphold, so we’re paying attention and lending some credibility to this news.  According to Barron’s the new device is scheduled for a September launch at the $699-$799USD pricepoint.  Likely to translate to 500-700 pounds sterling when it hits UK shores.

The device is said to be highly media focused and is just awaiting Steve Jobs’ final blessing.  From what we’ve seen, other netbook and tablet manufacturers are slowing or even stopping production, possibly waiting to see what Apple has up its sleeve before continuing with their own developments.  Sadly, we have yet to hear any real specs, or even whether or not the Apple device will have a physical keyboard.

Apple to partner with Verizon in the US?

Techcrunch writes an interesting article stating that:

“Verizon is racing to have its LTE service ready to go in a bunch of markets for Q1 2010….Our source believes there is definitely some credibility to this Apple/Verizon tablet talk, because such a partnership could work while the Apple/AT&T exclusive iPhone pact is still in place”

So, that’s interesting and it may provide a clue into Apple’s next move in the ultra-portable/netbook/tablet market.  It’s quite possible in my mind, that Apple’s breakthrough – and they always have some kind of breakthrough feature- will be a built in, always available internet connection.  Just wondering who they might partner with in the UK to provide LTE type service?

Apple netbook / tablet patent filing

The rumours are out in full force again – and for good reason.  Apple famously has denounced netbooks, calling them a race to the bottom as even going so far as to say that Apple can’t build a quality product at netbook prices.   That, according to industry analysts, can only mean one thing – Apple is most likely working on their own netbook like product.

Back in March we heard the first rumour, supplied by a Commercial Times report calling for a Wintek-supplied touchscreen order by Apple.  Now China Times has now stepped in with a claim of a 9.7-inch touchscreen netbook that will debut in October. China Times claims that manufacturers Wintek, and Dynapack have  received orders direct from Apple and that Foxconn will be the manufacturer.  Foxconn already produces many of Apple’s other products like Ipods and laptops.

The exact form of the mystery Apple device is unclear.  Will it be a traditional netbook design, a convertible tablet ala the Asus T91,or a slab-like tablet like the Crunchpad?  Or perhaps, something completely different.  The report is no help referring to it as “Apple’s netbook (or a “tablet” as many call it)”, so we’ll have to wait and see.

An unknown Apple device with a 10 inch screen has been caught online, is is an Apple Netbook?

Almost Fact: There are three reports that Apple has ordered 10 inch touchscreens from a manufacturer in Taiwan. |Reports here: Dow Jones on Apple Netbook|
Fact: Most netbooks have 10 inch screens.

Backstory:

Reminiscent of the first days of the iPhone, when an unidentified Apple device was spotted in the traffic logs of some web sites and search engines, an unknown Apple device has come up in the logs of a popular search engine.  On the condition of anonymity, they claim:

We spotted Web visits from an unannounced Apple product with a display somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook. Is it the iPhone 3.0 or the NetMac 1.0?

Like with the original iPhone—which was first seen online in the logs of blog websites and search engines—I will not be surprised if this was real. May other Apple computers were detected online first as well, albeit that some of them—like multiprocessor Macs running SETI or other distributed computing tasks—never were released. I believe that Steve was completely honest when he said “we don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk”, arguing that the company mission was to give more at the same price points, not less features for less money.

Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times has a different theory about the device that could point to at least one of its functions. He thinks it’s being poised as an ebook:

There’s something I keep hearing, and I don’t think I’d rank it as high as a rumor, but it’s an interesting story that I keep hearing, that for awhile, trucks loaded with books would arrive at a loading dock on the Apple campus, and offload big, big, big, big, huge loads of books, and then the trucks would leave empty. And Apple does not have a 100,000-book employee library there on the Apple campus. So one is prone to believe that they’re doing something with these books, such as turning them into text for some purpose we can only guess at. There’s been a long-standing rumor that Apple has been silently preparing to open a bookstore on the iTunes store, and they want to make sure that they have a very large stock of electronic titles when they do open.

Macbook Nano, NetMac, eMacReader, whatever it is, or we call it, I think it’s safe to say something Netbook sized is coming from Apple soon-ish.