Apple and Netbooks: Moola Is Why it Won't Happen

As part of its media blitz in launching new products this week, Apple clearly indicated it’s still not jumping on the netbook bandwagon — claiming it can’t make quality at the market price of $500 or under, the retail price of most netbooks.Hogwash. Baloney. Bull dinky.Tiny netbooks — mini laptops meant more for accessing the internet that composing dissertations on an itty-bitty keyboard — challenge the computer giant's business model. Apple doesn’t want to deviate from its profit margin level — to do so would open the flood gates to thumbing down prices on other products; and since it just cut the iPhone 3G price tag in half, to $99, it’s not a road Apple leaders or shareholders want to travel often.But to say it couldn’t do what other computing giants are doing with netbooks — making quality products at affordable prices — just isn't true.As a BusinessWeek article points out, Steve Jobs and company have made some sweet supplier deals with part makers, just like they have with iPhone application developers.As writer Peter Burrows points out:

"But far from slashing prices willy nilly, Apple made targeted cuts likely to help it win share without sacrificing the earnings gains that have powered an 80 percent increase in the stock price since mid-January, to 140."

So Steve and company, just come out and admit you want to make as big as profit as possible and right now it’s not going to happen in making netbooks.There’s no crime in admitting that. No embarrassment. No shame. You’re a company. You’re suppose to make money. You have a rep. But don’t hide behind what I consider a lame excuse.And don’t shy from another very obvious fact: Isn’t the iPhone really Apple’s defacto "netbook" product at this point?I just find it a little disconcerting for Apple, which has already prided itself as a classy and quality-focused company, to dismiss the inroads and innovation HP, Dell and Acer are making with netbooks — a product that’s burgeoning and one of the few that is making money for PC makers right now.