14 DAY TRIAL // More reports come to fuel the ongoing Apple-made netbook rumor, as analyst Ezra Gotthreil from Technology Business Research predicts that Apple will no longer be able to keep the high price tag for its systems, due to the increasing demand for lower-priced alternatives. The analyst also takes in consideration the growing success rate of Windows-based netbook devices that users can now purchase for as little as $300, way cheaper than Apple's lowest-priced offering, the $999 MacBook.
In a recent article on AppleInsider, analyst Ezra Gottheil is cited as saying that the Cupertino, California-based PC maker should be expected to unveil a new product that will be priced somewhere closer to all those Windows-enabled netbooks that have invaded the market in recent months. One of the main reasons offered by the analyst for this is the low global economy, which sees more people looking for lower-end systems that can provide better pricing deals. “It is too much to ask consumers to pay more than twice as much for a PC in these times,” the analyst says.
It's a well known fact that Apple's Mac systems aren't the cheapest deals on the market, a fact that might have kept the company's products from achieving a wider spread adoption. However, with the alleged introduction of a $599 netbook-like device, the company could potentially provide more users with an alternative to what is currently known as a netbook. With a price of $600, the reported Internet-capable device is just $100 more expensive than what the company's CEO, Steve Jobs, dubbed “junk.”
Back in October, there were rumors of Apple testing an Internet-capable device, of which digital signature indicated that it boasted a small display and ran on Apple's OS X operating system.