"the iPhone and iPod Touch are capable of filling the netbook niche."

Where did Apple say this?

Im surprised apple suggested that the iPod Touch / iPhone platform is in anyway comparable to the netbook platform

Again i don't understand why apple felt the need to respond to the netbook market...

Personally if all of the critisim's of the netbook held up, i.e. people won't like linux as it's different, the keyboard is too small, the screen is to small etc.. then we wouldn't hear about netbooks again, they would simply die out, there are only so many tech's wanting a new toy.

I think apple should go back to the way they used to advertise, which was to point out what was so great about apple and really not mention the competition that much

Others - Netbook is a small laptop.

""the iPhone and iPod Touch are capable of filling the netbook niche."

Where did Apple say this?

Jobs on netbooks:

http://www.osnews.com/story/20424/Jobs_on_Cheap_Computers_Netbooks

"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."

Cook asserted that for many people an iPhone or iPod Touch would be a better alternative to a mini-notebook.

for browsing the Internet, and doing email and all the other things that a netbook lets you do.

Netbooks really are what laptops should have been all along.

You can't use an iPhone to download a wireless driver for a computer that you're helping to fix.

You can't plug your iPhone into a TV and wirelessly stream ordinary video files from an SMB share to your TV.

Both of these things, I do with my Aspire One.

The iPhone cannot do all these things because it is NOT a netbook... it's a friggin' PHONE.

Apple users != normal people with comon sense ;-)

if Apple doesn't want to provide a product for users who need true computing in a portable device, so be it.

I think people are confused as to the actual meaning of the term "netbook". There is certainly no universal agreement on what a netbook is.

Few (if any) companies are getting rich from the current crop of "netbooks".

It only makes sense for Apple to tackle that market if they can make good money and margins while still providing an experience that will be highly positive and hopefully drive people to buy their higher-end products.

Normal people (I speak of OS geeks) don't mind pissing their time away keeping their PCs running. Fine, have fun. Many Apple users have decided to spend their time working on other things besides their OSes.

Did your smug "holier than thou" attitude come with your apple computer or was that something they charged you extra for?

I don't have particularly small hands, but I can get pretty close to my full desktop touch-typing speed on a compact keyboard. Even on my old Psion Netbook, a smaller device with a smaller keyboard than most modern netbooks, I could type far faster than on any touch screen.

My iPod Touch is an amazing netbook. It is really portable - I can take internet and email access with me in my pocket. Great battery life. Tons of cool applications custom made for a real netbook experience. Watch movies. Organize photos. Play music. Write to do lists. Get directions. Play games. Jotting down notes. etc, etc..

My iPod Touch is an amazing netbook. It is really portable - I can take internet...

On the other hand, the netbooks I see just end up being slow small laptops with no actual benefit for their size...

Seriously, is anyone writing software for designed for netbooks? If not, it's just a copycat PC laptop... though small.

"You can't use an iPhone to download a wireless driver for a computer that you're helping to fix.

You can't plug your iPhone into a TV and wirelessly stream ordinary video files from an SMB share to your TV.

Both of these things, I do with my Aspire One.

If you need to replace the HD or other hardware from your netbook, or change the OS, or anything, then you don't need a netbook, you need a laptop. Netbooks are cheap and disposable machines witch goal is to cover basic tasks and it will last at least a couple of years or less.

The problem is that people want to treat netbooks as laptos, and that is wrong.

But by the same logic, Thom, if freedom is the key then Macintrashes wouldn't be PCs either.

A Macbook is something Mac made up to describe their own category of laptops.

I think people are confused as to the actual meaning of the term "netbook". There is certainly no universal agreement on what a netbook is.

Some folks are arguing it is a small, inexpensive laptop. And like any laptop, you can install different OS's, upgrade the hardware, and run a variety of off-the-shelf conventional software (whether it be Windows based or *nix).

Other folks see the netbook as a new category defined by it's functionality. In this case, a netbook is a small and convenient companion device used to do some surfing, e-mail, and other basic functions. It is generally necessary for these devices to be always or very frequently connected to the Internet.

I tend to fall into the second category, because we do not need a new, special word for a small and inexpensive laptop. It is what it is.

However, the type of device exemplified by the iPhone and iPod Touch is different and deserves a new term. I personally don't care if that term is "netbook" or "pda" or "XYZ", but I see that this is a new niche for products to develop.

If you need to replace the HD or other hardware from your netbook, or change the OS, or anything, then you don't need a netbook, you need a laptop.

Netbooks are cheap and disposable machines witch goal is to cover basic tasks and it will last at least a couple of years or less.

The problem is that people want to treat netbooks as laptos, and that is wrong.

If you need to replace the HD or other hardware from your netbook, or change the OS, or anything, then you don't need a netbook, you need a laptop. Netbooks are cheap and disposable machines witch goal is to cover basic tasks and it will last at least a couple of years or less.

The problem is that people want to treat netbooks as laptos, and that is wrong.

Netbooks are cheap and disposable machines witch goal is to cover basic tasks and it will last at least a couple of years or less.

Netbooks are being trumped and defined by what they do, more than what their form factor is.

I can see most of the posts have the US centric idea. It is more important to think outside of the US box. You probably will appreciate more about the meaning of a netbook. In many countries, free WiFi is available in every corner of your life. You have it at the airport, in your commuter train, or sometimes in a community (village, town, or city). With a netbook computer, you don’t have to subscribe to anything. You have connection to anyone anywhere without extra cost. To me, free of connection cost, mobility and networking are the essences of a netbook computer. This is why the netbook computer is more popular in European and Asian countries. I think iPhone is nice. If you have extra money to spend, why not!