iPhone is Apple’s netbook, says Steve Jobs

In a long run effort chasing Steve Jobs for an answer on whether or not Apple will make its own cheap laptop known as ‘netbook’, the blogosphere got the answer when the Apple’s CEO made a surprise appearance on the company’s fourth quarter conference call on Tuesday.

I won’t bother you with the detailed news, but instead I’ll just gonna do a quick recap on what are the most important remarks; especially that’s going to take effect to our little mobile world.

“Apple beat RIM!” Steve Jobs said, “And who knows about the economic slowdown? But the fact is, we beat RIM. Not bad for being in the market only 15 months.”

The breakthrough milestone (for Apple) is measured by revenues, which Steve Jobs proudly announced: "Let's look at the ranking. Nokia is clearly number one with $12.7 billion. Samsung number two at 5.9 billion. Apple is number three at 4.6 billion, Sony Ericsson is number four with 4.2 billion. LG number five at 3.4 billion, Motorola number six with 3.2 billion and RIM number seven at 2.1 billion. Pretty amazing."

And do you know what that mean? That means Apple now has roughly $24.5 billion dollars in bank, plus with “zero debt” as like the psychedelic Apple’s CEO noted. Pheeww… that’s a lot of money and without any debt to pay, I bet those Apple stock holders can sleep so peacefully at night and smile as bright as the sunshine when awake in the morning. ~LOL~

But even though Apple has got the needed money to fuel the next great products to produce, it still feels reluctant to jump in the forray to make the low-cost & low-feature laptop category; or known today as ‘netbook’. And like the usual Steve Jobs we all familiar with, he answered with his typical sharp-witty tongue when asked whether Apple users will be likely to see a Mini MacBook / MacNetbook:

"There are some customers which we chose not to serve. We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that. But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve. And there's a lot of them."

But hey, don’t let your hopes down yet when you heard that. Because then Steve Jobs went a little further, dangling some suggestion that Apple is watching the category closely: “It’s a nascent category and we’ll watch while it evolves,” Steve Jobs said. “And we’ve got some pretty good ideas if it does evolve.”

So Steve Jobs didn’t exactly giving out a cut-the-throat hand signal, in fact he actually throwing hopes for all of us who can’t afford to purchase those new MacBooks 2008; to keep on dreaming for a cheap version to come out. ;-p

The thin frame CEO also dismissed analyst questions about a possible Mac tablet. Aw shucks Steve, I’ve wanted to see such device to come out from Apple; especially after I saw a lustful mock-up like the left picture there.

So, in the mean time what can we do; the unfortunate people who can’t afford to pay the luxury of watching our own reflection on the new glossy display of MacBook 2008? ~LOL~ Fret not, cuz the almighty Apple’s CEO has given us an already existing solution:

”You know, one of our entrants into that category if you will is the iPhone, for browsing the Internet, and doing email and all the other things that a netbook lets you do. And being connected via the cellular network wherever you are, an iPhone is a pretty good solution for that, and it fits in your pocket,” Steve said.

Funny, I didn’t see that way before about iPhone. I feel like one of those Three Stooges after I heard Steve said that…. Did you? ;-D

Sources are from:

• Apple cashes in on iPhone, leaves ‘junk’ to others (TG Daily)
• Steve Jobs on Apple's cash, NetBooks, Apple TV, and cheap PCs (Apple Insider)
• Steve Jobs holds court (Mac Word)

[blogged with my Treo 750v]