People have been fantasizing about Apple releasing a netbook for a while now, and I can understand why. People who love Apple hardware REALLY love Apple hardware, and even though I'm more of a PC guy myself I can see the Appeal. Whether you love them or hate them there's no denying the thoughtfulness of Apples designs.
But is the Mac-Cults fascination with netbooks really good reason for Steve to jump on board? Sit down and think about the "benefits" of a netbook, their market appeal is based on three main points:
1. Portability
2. Battery life
3. Price
Apples OSX has been known for it's wonderful battery life from the very beginning, in fact it surpasses any of the netbooks I've researched in recent months with my two year old MacBook getting roughly 4 hours of basic use.
Macs Designs may be slightly bigger than your netbook sporting a 13" screen instead of a 9 or 11 but that provides for a passable keyboard and livable movie experience. Let's not forget that Mac poinered the small form factor laptop, does everybody remember this PowerBook commercial back in the day? Macs are designer do be thinner and more portable than their counterparts of the same size, especially with their new manufacturing process.
The one downside to a MacBook over netbook is price but, let's face it, nobody has bought a Mac to save money over it's PC counterpart since the 80's. There have been credible rumors of a MacBook in the $800 range but don't ever expect Apple to compete with HP in a price war, the bottom line is that you'll always pay an extra $300 or more on a Apple branded laptop.
So do you really think that Apple needs a true netbook? No. But with that said I'd love to see them bring back the 12" form factor, using their new aluminum form chassis and 2007 technology to bring the price down to $800ish. It wouldn't be a real netbook, but it would certainly keep to the MacBook/PowerBook tradition