Netbooks may be the fastest-growing niche in the computer spectrum but Apple, in its infinite wisdom, still appears to be in no hurry to come up with one that meets its exacting standards.
"We’ve
got some ideas, but right now we think the products there are inferior and will not
provide the experience to customers that they’re happy with," Tim
Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer and acting CEO, said during the company’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday.
The issues, from Apple’s perspective? Low-powered CPUs, cramped
keyboards and small displays are not enough to satisfy customers. And — oh yeah — netbooks
are "principally based on hardware," Cook said, while repeatedly stressing on the call that Apple believes "software is the key
ingredient."
This may just be a phase in the company’s familiar "we’ll-do-it-when-we’re-good-and-ready-or-not" approach to product development (and it is hard to argue with success). But the economic downturn is driving sales of netbooks — inexpensive, low-powered, miniature
notebooks — through the roof. Powered by Intel Atom processors, netbooks usually measure 8
to 10 inches in screen size, and pricing on average hovers around $300 to $500. Despite frustratingly small keyboards, trackpads and screens consumers are consumers don’t seem to mind the compromise in these tough economic times.
Evidence that the netbook price point can be found in Apple’s own earnings report. On the call Apple announced it sold a record number of iPods in the quarter: 22.7 million. With iPods priced no higher than $400, it’s clear that this cost sweet spot is attractive to consumers.
And this seems to be the start of a significant upward trajectory for the category: ABI Research forecasts that manufacturers will ship 200 million ultramobile devices, including netbooks, by 2013 — which is about the same
anticipated size as the entire laptop market worldwide. And analysts
predict the netbook market will grow at least 100 percent in 2009.
Though Apple is stalling on offering netbooks, that doesn’t mean they’re ruling out the idea entirely. Cook’s
statements suggest Apple could be devising a product that fits into the
netbook category, and a new software platform will blow away operating
systems that current netbooks are running. We’ve seen all this before with [pick an Apple consumer product], including pre-release disbelief about slow-walking the process from journalists, pundits and the geeky chattering class.
In an October 2008 conference call, CEO Steve Jobs said Apple could not
produce a notebook in the netbook price range that wasn’t a "piece of
junk." However, similar to Cook’s statement Wednesday, Jobs did say Apple has "interesting ideas" if the netbook category evolves.
See Also:
- Puny, Trendy Netbooks Are Growing Up to Suit Business Users
- Cheap, Easy-to-Mod NetBooks Are a Hacker’s Paradise
- Five Things That Netbooks Need Now
- Analysis: ARM Chips Could Appear in Apple Netbooks, Tablets
Photo: Brian X. Chen/Wired.com
Yeah, I said it. The Windows 7 taskbar is the most important Windows UI change since Windows 95, and it will dramatically change the way you use Windows. And it’s better than the Mac’s Dock.
The OS X Dock operates from a similar standpoint, but Windows 7 takes this (not to mention the translucency gambit) a step further: The visual signification of a running application (versus one that’s not and merely “pinned” to the taskbar) is exceptionally subtle—a kind of “glare” appears on the top left corner of the icon and it’s faintly outlined. It borders on actively encouraging you to forget the distinction, which as computers become more powerful and applications launch more quickly, matters less and less anyhow.
The flashing colored glass effect when an app is trying to get your attention, however, is nice, and though way less ostentatious than the old blinking button, definitely obvious. Unless you have the taskbar set to auto-hide, then the notification is barely visible as a flashing line of color on the bottom of your screen. The Mac Dock’s bouncing icons definitely works better there.
These aesthetic similarities aside, what actually makes the superbar superior to the Dock is window management—including, by extension, application management. I can easily find, access or close any window I want from the taskbar nearly instantly, thanks to the combination of live thumbnails and Aero Peek. Rolling over an icon in the taskbar pops up live thumbnails of every open window of that app. If that’s not enough to tell which one you want, rolling over a thumbnail brings that window to the front, full-sized, and makes every other window translucent. And it’s easy to move from app to app in one motion to bring up the window you want, or close it. This is not just a neat visual trick, like Flip 3D. It’s genuinely useful.
The benefit breaks down if you have more open windows of an application than the number of previews that will fit across your screen horizontally: In that case, you get a much less useful list of open windows, like old school Windows or control-clicking a Dock icon on the Mac.
Right-clicking—or clicking the icon then quickly swiping upwards—brings up a pop-up menu (aka a jump list). Control-clicking on the OS X Dock does something similar, giving you a list of open windows. Some apps (like Adium) are coded for additional Dock functions, but it’s not the same as the powerful visual metaphor that the superbar and Aero Peek give you. Applications still need to be coded specially to take advantage of the superbar’s pop-up menu, but it’s more powerful. If an app is coded to use Windows 7 jump lists—when you right-click on an icon or click and swipe upward, you have instant access to frequently used or other functions—it will erase the slight advantage the Dock currently has.
The superbar does share one of the Dock’s major shortcomings as an application launcher—it’s not immediately apparent how to launch a new window of an app from the taskbar. The secret as Windows evangelist Paul Thurrot 
The superbar’s biggest shortcoming—at least when you first use it—relates to the way it handles folders and document shortcuts, which is exceptionally confusing. You can only pin one folder to the bar. After that, every subsequent folder you want to pin to the taskbar is pinned to Windows Explorer. Say you have the Libraries folder pinned for quick access to Documents, Downloads, Pictures, etc. But I also want another folder (in this example, Games and Computer) pinned to the taskbar, so I drag it to the bar. There, it shares the same icon as my first pinned folder. When I click the icon, up pops Libraries. Where’s the Games folder? I have to right-click on the folder icon (or click and swipe up). This gives me a jump list of pinned folders and other frequent programs. You pin documents the same way, only they’re hidden in the jump menu of the application that opens them. It takes some learning before you can use it fluidly.
The storm after 
