I came across a news article on Reuters that quotes Steve Jobs as saying that Apple doesn't know how to "make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk."
Some fear that Apple may be more susceptible to an economic downturn because it charges premium prices for its products. But Jobs said the company has no interest in going down-market, and he scoffed at so-called netbooks, which are stripped-down, budget laptops.
"There are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk," he said.
Jobs also gave clues to the company's approach as it enters what may be an extended period of economic uncertainty.
"We have almost $25 billion safely in the bank and zero debt. This provides us tremendous stability and the ability to invest our way through this downturn. This is what we did during the last downturn."
As much as I would love to see an inexpensive laptop from Apple, I'm glad they're sticking to their guns and to what made them who they are (a premium computer manufacturer). It takes a lot of guts to turn down the huge market that has become the budget netbook market.
I have pondered replacing my MacBook Pro with a netbook that gets 4x the battery life, but I realized that I could never use a netbook as my primary means of computing. I have 4 gigs of memory, a 320GB drive, and a dual core 2.4ghz CPU that I carry with me everywhere and spend a good 10 - 12 hours a day using it. I could never replace that with using a cheaper, slower netbook with a much smaller screen, keyboard, and hard drive.
After putting some serious thought into it, I'm not so sure I would even go for a cheap netbook if Apple came out with one. I would much rather have a better battery for my MacBook Pro. Can you imagine how useful (and popular) a MacBook Pro with a battery that lasted 24 hours would be? Come on Apple, fuel cell technology is ready!