Apple reports best ever March quarter with a $1.21b profit, calls netbooks "junky"
By Nilay Patel 
posted Apr 22nd 2009 5:54PM
posted Apr 22nd 2009 5:54PM
The economy might be in a dumpster, but Apple keeps selling iPods, iPhones and Macs -- the company just reported a $1.21b profit on revenues of $8.16b, which is yet another record quarter. In fact, if you do away with that pesky subscription accounting that the company uses for the iPhone and Apple TV, the numbers are even higher: $1.66b profit on $9.06b of revenue. Mac sales did fall three percent compared to a year ago, but that was offset by a three-percent increase in iPod sales (particularly of the iPod touch) and a 123-percent jump in iPhone sales. So, now that the numbers are out of the way, let's let Tim Cook take some shots at netbooks, shall we?When I'm looking at what's sold in the Netbook market, I see cramped keyboards, junky hardware, very small screens, bad software. Not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on. As it exists today, we're not interested in it nor would it be something customers would be interested in the long term. We are looking at the space. For those who want a small computer that does browsing/email, they might want an iPhone or iPod Touch. If we find a way to deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution, we'll do that.Slamming the door while simultaneously leaving it open -- how very Jobs-like. Speaking of which, Cook wouldn't say anything beyond the usual "We look forward to Steve's return in June" line, so no updates there -- but were you really expecting any? We're still listening to the call, we'll update if we hear anything good.
Update 1: When asked about the Pre, Cook said "it's difficult to say anything about a product until it's shipped... I can't say anything intelligent about the Pre."
Update 2: When asked about taking legal action on IP (presumably about the Pre), we just got a straight-up repeat of what they said last time: "We think competition is great as long as they invent their own stuff."
Annnd, that's it -- we'd say the real fireworks are the numbers, since we'd already heard this line about netbooks from Steve himself. We just wish someone would've asked if Apple's reached out to Lauren and Giampaulo.
[Via MacRumors]
Apple need to step up making product that is reflecting current recession market. All those college student that brought apple product in the pass, won't buy anymore for that rip off price since they can't find a job after college.
Why? Seriously, sometimes I think people don't understand that these companies exist to make money. Why would they change their business model at all? They just had a killer quarter right in the middle of a deep recession. Lowering prices would simply be leaving money on the table and would lower their margins.
Yeah, and there will no more college students in the future to buy Apple products.
Or the dozen other demographics that also buy Apple's stuff, they'll also cease to exist by the end of the coming quarter.
I'll just leave this here.
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9823/1211544660807.png
inb4 butthurt
Ask the Apple shareholders if they want the company to change its product mix. Seems to be working out better than most PC companies right now. It looks as though the only thing keeping PC unit shipments up are increases in netbook sales but these are low margin products that cannibalize higher margin products. That's OK if you are atuned to the low end (like Acer, MSS) but not so good if you have higher end products (Dell, HP, Sony). Apple reported a 3% decline in PC sales. I'd bet that is less than most companies if you take away the netbook numbers.
Yup, they're going well right now, and many think the economy's gone as low as it's going to go now.
Apple chooses to concentrate on one type of consumer: those who are willing to pay for extra quality. Lots of people want to try and fit them in to the rebellion against Microsoft, as though they are trying to replace Microsoft's dominance. That's not what Apple does. They won't fight against Windows PCs in every market on every price point. They've got their own products that sell well, and that's as far as it goes.
@Seightan,
Yeah, you're right, you're in4 butthurt, but just for being an off-topic idiot.
Not to mention an idiot in general for promoting such generalized and false statements. But I'm not going to get into that.
wow maybe ill buy my next computerz on how big the circlez R.
@ Seightan
Things Final Cut Pro is doing to me today -
Lose audio render files
CTD
Lose pref files
Why? It's obvious the buyers aren't feeling effects of the recession. I'm choosing not to participate in this recession myself and I'm making money. The reality is that most people aren't feeling this recession. If 40 million workers are out of work, a lot other workers are still employed. If there isn't a job in your town, find a way to move to better area of the country.
Recessions are the best time for businesses to find a new way to make money. Many current large businesses today were founded during the Great Depression.
The recession of the late 70s early 80s created Apple and other small computer companies that exist today in much larger form.
The biggest expansion of the internet and the early growth of the tech companies based on the internet started from the 1992-3 recession. Dell and Gateway anyone?
"Why? It's obvious the buyers aren't feeling effects of the recession."
A lot of them are fooling themselves into thinking this is just some minor little bump on the way back to DOW 27,000.
God bless them if they still want to buy shiny gadgets no matter who makes them, but right now they are those dopes on the beach after an earthquake looking at all the shiny shells, and wondering where the water went.
Let's see them outrun the tsunami.
I've had Final Cut crash opening blank projects before, I've had more success using consumer level editing software than that garbage (IMO).
[sarcasm]Oh, and my Acer aspire one is a real piece of junk, just because it's not made out of aluminum and glass. It's definitely junky physically, holding up bringing it to school and traveling everywhere. The software is also terrible, running the TERRIBLE Windows XP - everyone knows it's SO bad. Even Windows 7 (Aero + Media Center) runs on this thing without any trouble, but hey, it's still a piece of junk.[/sarcasm]
P.S. Hey Tim, your iPhone is not a netbook, it's completely different and comparing it to a laptop is just simply out of place. And I'd take my Acer's "junky" keyboard over your iPhone's non-landscape, smudgy POS on screen keyboard. What an arrogant fool. Matter of fact, he's the guy that dissed free phones for being worth nothing, but at least my Razr has a replaceable battery and can actually make all of the phone calls I tell it to instead of dropping them left and right.
to Jim:
I would hardly call Acer or MSI computers low end products.
bottom line. IPHONE RULES
It is funny how both the pro and con comments have missed reading between the lines. Before the iPhone (yes I own one) Apple made similar comments about the smart phone offerings back in the 06-07 time frame. Then they released the iPhone. Apple is just trying to do this all over again. Tell the world a certain segment of the market sucks then release a product in the same segment and tell the world why their product is perfect. Only time (June 09) will tell. I also find it strange that no one had mentioned the failing Macbook Air. What a total disaster. Does anyone own one of these? So, IMHO June 09 WWDC Jobs shows up to surprise everyone talks a great deal about how great 3.0 is and finally do a real (one more thing) surprise and pull out a Mac Minibook at the same time killing the Air.
@seightan
You're a moron. Go away.
I don't know why execs at apple have to be such dicks when talking about netbooks. I own a lenovo s netbook and think they are quite innovative, thanks to the atom cpu (hell, they're a main reason why xp is still around), and great to use on the road. Maybe they know if
they make netbooks there is no way they could keep them under $300 - 400. Even if they use the same components as every other netbook.
Also off topic for a second i came across this the other day and thought many readers who love reading about iPhone OS 3.0 and Snow Leopard posts, that no matter how trivial they might seem engadget creates, would get a kick out of this. It's a small number now, but trust me in time that number will grow. After all ignorance is bliss. ;-)
http://blog.kiplinger.com/techtracker/2009/04/piercing-apples-security-myth.html
I just wish peeple would profreed there werk, then I kould tollerrait ignourant posses like dis won.
What are you talking abt? i can still buy a mac during this recession. in fact, i can probably buy a few. im still getting paid what i've been getting since last year.
I think that the main reason Apple is not willing to even try to make a net-book is they can't get the selling price under $1000 on even the lowest model.
"Junky" is a compliment for netbooks. Those Atom-powered devices are built for poverty-stricken third-world users. Built from leftover parts from mid-size, medium-priced notebooks. Every year since computers were invented, it's processor speed and capabilities would grow. Now all of a sudden, it's back to the 80's and people are raving about how wonderful these netbooks are. For what is supposed to be a notebook, they put in a tiny processor, slap on a tiny screen, a tiny keyboard and a tiny price tag and the netbook has become God's gift to computing mankind. What's going on here.
I'm not saying they're not useful at all, I'm only saying that they're a bit underpowered for my usage if they're going to be running a standard desktop OS. Android-powered netbooks I can see, but that's about it. I'm curious at what point the netbook market is going to become saturated. I still don't understand why tablet platforms failed and this netbook market is thriving. Must be an economy thing with people unwilling to spend money.
Wow! Did Cook really say that netbook junkies buy junky netbooks? Awesome. He explained the whole netbook phenomenon in one sentence.
my apple stock is rockin .. sorry all you apple haters
I like it when people make money.
Well done apple.
Do you like it also when they are making it at your expense?
Kind of agree, Kilgore. Although Apple have had an awesome quarter all things considered I don't get the fanboys who praise them for having 35%+ margins considering they're the ones paying for that extra 15-20% or so.
Doofuses.
Shit I'm not complaining, I'm still holding on to AAPL stock from 2003 when I graduated and my father gave me cash to invest in the stock market. I remember thinking, hey this is that company that computer we have in the attic. I like computers... Best dumb decision I ever made. Now to figure out how to skirt around capital gains tax...
"Do you like it also when they are making it at your expense?"
A voluntary expense. It's not like Apple received bailout money.
As a customer, it's his/her job to judge whether or not the product they're evaluating for purchase is worth the price a merchant sets. That MacBook or iPod touch isn't forced on them.
So long as said product leaves you satisfied, the answer to your question should be yes. Who cares about the profit margin if I like what I bought?
Tech companies are not Walmart, they rely heavily on big margin to keep them motivated (or investor happy). 35%+ margin is very common in the tech sector, MSFT has Operating margin of 34% last quarter.
@Tin
Well, yeah, but since MS are primarily a software company you would expect that. Apple on the other hand are primarily a hardware company.
Macbooks are awesome but I don't see the point of celebrating the fact you're coughing up an extra 10% for them.
I like it when people make big money from their diehard fans.
Well done apple.
Every time I hear the words netbook, junky and cheap, it makes me wanna puke. I wanna avoid the people who utter those three words as a badge of honor. I can't believe people who graduated from college and got decent jobs strive for those qualities in life. America has surely gone down the tubes. I guess the baseball parks will be empty this summer. Who's going to buy hot dogs for $10 apiece? Take the family out for a day at the amusement park and you'll spend the price of a netbook.
"Can't say anything intelligent about the Pre"
If the Pre does what it should in the market, intelligence will be the least of his worries........
"If the Pre does what it should in the market, intelligence will be the least of his worries........"
didnt people say the same thing about the blackberry storm?
come on people. the pre, the storm, the G1. sure you cant load them up with a bunch of open-source shovelware, but how many average consumers are going to wade through the tiresome and painfully disorganized process of finding a truly beneficial app in the gigantic and completely unfiltered and unchecked pool of crap that exists in the open-source world??
@pete
apparently you can't say anything intelligent ether.
@ Pete
Wow, you really don't know what you're talking about.
Sure he does. Remember when every Apple-bashing Engadget goon was raving about how the G1 would the kill the iPhone? And then how the HTC Diamond would kill the iPhone? And then how the Storm was going to kill the iPhone? No, no, and hell no. Look back at history before you go shooting your mouth off.
@Pete,
As said you don't know what you are talking about. It's the number one reason I hate the iPhone. Do you not remember the story's of Apple' pathetic rules for it's apps? Like the one where the app for Twitter was banned due to "Swear and abusive words that are on twitter threads!" Or how about the one that banned Tom Tom from launching it's Sat Nav software onto the iPhone?
Yeah, app control is really good!
Oh and the news when their sales dropped conveniently never needed to be reported by this site.
But lookie: "Apple reports best ever March quarter with a $1.21b profit".
Now you can print that.
Thanks, Engadget.
Can't you read?
"Mac sales did fall three percent compared to a year ago, but that was offset by a three-percent increase in iPod sales (particularly of the iPod touch) and a 123-percent jump in iPhone sales"
Actually I saw Ballmer's quote about "nobody buying overpriced trendy computers in this economy" several times on this site. I think anyone who's been paying attention is aware that Apple sales are down, and apparently marketshare is down a bit too. Looks like COGS is down but they're not cutting prices, so shareholders must be happy.
@ Look_Around_You
Besides being a complete and utter TROLL, you really need to leave all of these Apple posts alone. No one but yourself is forcing you to read AND comment in these articles. You should not be upset that an American company is posting a profit while foreign companies are sinking faster than the USS Monitor. Apple creates a product that people want; people like the ease of OS X, build quality and features. Everyone doesn't play Crysis, I wanted a computer that is easy to surf the web on, edit digital pictures, write documents and offer great multi-media functionality. That's why I bought a Mac and when this one burns out I'll buy another one!
Stop posting anti-Apple comments, because you obviously don't know what your talking about when iPhone sales jump 123% and you post 10-15 times a day all the shortcomings of the iPhone and other devices Apple sells like hotcakes.
What news? You mean this: "Mac sales did fall three percent compared to a year ago, but that was offset by a three-percent increase in iPod sales", the third sentence of the summary?
@ Look_Around_You
Besides being a complete and utter TROLL, you really need to leave all of these Apple posts alone. No one but yourself is forcing you to read AND comment in these articles. You should not be upset that an American company is posting a profit while foreign companies are sinking faster than the USS Monitor. Apple creates a product that people want; people like the ease of OS X, build quality and features. Everyone doesn't play Crysis, I wanted a computer that is easy to surf the web on, edit digital pictures, write documents and offer great multi-media functionality. That's why I bought a Mac and when this one burns out I'll buy another one!
Stop posting anti-Apple comments, because you obviously don't know what your talking about when iPhone sales jump 123% and you post 10-15 times a day all the shortcomings of the iPhone and other devices Apple sells like hotcakes.
Keep working at it, you'll crack the Engadget/Apple conspiracy wide open one of these days.
I *LOVE* when Engadget posts Apple related stories! For no other reason than the parade of dumb it inspires in the comments section!
cramped keyboards in a netbook, but then he tells us to buy an iPhone? isn't that kinda contradictory?
Can't be cramped if it doesn't exist!
Na its like "This car has a small steering wheel"
"Oh well buy this one, it has a digestive instead"
Yum Yum Yum, Thanks McVities!
Cramped keyboards are awful.
What you need is even smaller virtual keyboards with no tactile feedback whatsoever.
(What you need is a product that Apple can get away with putting a huge mark up on in exchange for making it stylish.)
wait, can you fit a netbook in your pocket?
Was thinking the same thing.
I'm just putting the finishing touches to my dissertation which was ALL written on my eee and I didn't find it cramped at any point. Would love to see someone writing a dissertation on an iPhone.
"Not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on. As it exists today, we're not interested in it nor would it be something customers would be interested in the long term."
Well i believe they don't go and make a netbook is not because cramped keyboards or small screens, its because knowing apple it will have the same internals as every other netbook but be about 3 times more expensive. It would sell horribly because netbooks are supposed to be cheap, and it would sell horribly with an apple price tag.
Oh, there is an Apple Netbook coming all right. I took this statement as confirmation of that.
This is what Apple does. They first prime the market by saying "oh, those products are all crap, why would anyone want that?" And at first people go "huh?" but there's that small group of evangelists that starts working to convince people that yeah, you know, these things *do* suck. Then six months later, Apple releases their own and says "see? This is how it should be done!" And by then, everybody's drinking the Kool-Aid - or at least enough people to make billions for Apple.
That's what they did with the iPod, that's what they did with the iPhone, hell, it's what they did with the original Mac. It's been their modus operandi for more than 20 years.
When Apple starts saying "this product category sucks", that's 100% confirmation that there's an Apple version on the way. They just don't bother talking about (or at least criticizing) products that they have no vested interest in. This is a strategy.
I think for an investor, it is a lot better to see a 3% decline in sales as oppose to (e.g. 16% decline for Dell last quarter).
that was supposed to be under look_around_you's post!
@murmermer - You gotta be kidding me. I hate these slave-owning fanboys. Just because something is made of metal doesn't mean it's going to sink! The Monitor was a great and revolutionary ship, and changed everything about the maritime warfare industry. All the ships now are copying the USN's flagship ship! People were like "no, you don't need pivoting turrets" but look now, everyone has them. The Confederates were like "oh yeah, the Virginia is a Monitor-killer", but guess what, it failed.
Netbooks will be "junkie" until apple macs one of course.
For god sakes Apple, stop being the douche kid at the table.
Writing this on a Eee pc btw. Hardly junky and only $399.
Classless all the way.
Now let ANYONE say something along the sames lines about Apple for instance, oh I dont know, let's takes something mild like their prices compared to PCs, and let's imagine for a moment how certain people would react.
Look_Around_You_No_One_Is_Interested
Wow, damn there's so many haters on this blog! As soon as there's some good news about apple, the anti apple haters come out. Bet most of em were hoping and praying that apple would announce a loss. Bet it just makes their blood boil to hear that apple's had one of their best quaters ever. Lol, get a life haters, its just a bunch of tech, Its not a matter of life or death.
Maybe the netbooks could just go to rehab?
Apple being arrogant? No way!
Your only arrogant if you don't deliver.
RIM, Palm, LG, Samsung, Microsoft "me too", HTC. Arrogant, failed to deliver = FAIL
you jus said fail twice
FAIL
@Shoumik
"you jus said fail twice
FAIL"
Hmm iPod sales up, almost 30B cash in the bank, iPhone and iPod Touch oh my. Thats your response? ahaha... FAIL!
Honestly, netbooks *are* junky. The only reason people put up with their substandard screens and keyboard is because they are *cheap*. It's the same reason people put up with craptastic Kias and Pontiacs - just because something is selling like hotcakes doesn't mean it's a great product. It's a classic case of being "good enough" but not "good".
If Apple dives into the netbook market without some significant changes to its own product, all they'd do is cannibalize sales of their flagship MacBook, all the while destroying the "quality" brand they've built up over the last few years. A shitty deal any way you slice it.
"When I'm looking at what's sold in the Netbook market, I see cramped keyboards, junky hardware, very small screens, bad software. Not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on."
Is that a reason *not* to enter that market? I thought it was a good reason to enter it.
"Not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on."
Because they'd want to put an Apple logo on an EEE PC?
ugh. i hate it when they try to pass off the ipod touch or iphone as a netbook or netbook alternative. also, he says he has nothing intelligent to say about the pre? what do you suppose that means?
It probably means that they have developed a strategy, or are in the process of doing so, and don't want to telegraph their next move.
"We think competition is great..."
SURE you do!
"...as long as they invent their own stuff."
Hypocrite!
Tim Cook doesn't write very well.
Tim Cook's quotes were taken from a live conference call where he was asked questions on the spot by investors and the media
It is fun and exciting to take Cooks last quote out of context.
"I can't say anything intelligent..."
Update: I look unintelligent when Engadget posts updates.
"We think ...tit.. is great"
Its what he said kids
"Wow, damn there's so many haters on this blog! As soon as there's some good news about apple, the anti apple haters come out."
Yeah labeling the players in a market segment as making "junky" products, that's just so positive...
"For those who want a small computer that does browsing/email"
Wait isn't that almost the only thing people pretty much use macs for...
prepare yourself
I DJ
Yeah other than programming/script writing and recording my band's album in ProTools...
Engadget comments make my head explode. Anyone got any duct tape?
Unlike Windows, OS X doesn't throw up constant obstacles to getting my job done. Funny that with so much software on Windows, so much of it is garbage. Cygwin and SecureCRT are bad jokes. X11 clients for Windows are even worse. Office for Windows is generally considered to be worse than Office for OS X, and this time 'round we're not stuck with the crappy Ribbon UI that Office 07 has.
Don't even get me started on how bad the consumer apps for Windows are. Why does the Windows world have to suffer with AIM apps like Pidgin/Digsby/Trillian when OS X has Adium. Transmission is better than the multitude of torrent clients on Windows. It goes on and on.
Look, we all hated Macs back in school in the early 90s. Wake up from your 15 year coma and try using OS X and maybe you'll see that some platforms have used the past decade and a half to improve.
Or, you know they edit major motion pictures using Final Cut. You know, little films like 300, No Country For Old Men, Corpse Bride, stuff like that.
Perhaps they lay down tracks for their major upcoming release in GarageBand. You know, like Kirk Hammett from Metallica.
Or maybe you broadcast live events like the Academy Awards, or maybe the Grammys.
But you're right, nobody does serious work in OS X, do they.
Gentlemen, prepare your flamesuits.
Those "junky" netbooks are sure selling like mad. Got one for the wife and I to use as a simple "beater" around the house and I love it.
Apple's missing the boat in that market. They'd be making a lot more and if they truly believe they are top notch "innovators" then I say put up or shut up. The market for netbooks speaks for itself. It's filling a need or a want quite well.
I hardly think Apple would want to associate itself with a niche market in which its users describe the product as a "beater." Apple plays the "upscale" card, and plays it well. They probably wouldn't want to comprimose that image by selling "beaters." Besides, aren't profit margins on netbooks pretty low? They're obviously doing just fine with what they currently offer.
I think they're just using weasel words for the time being until they can come up with a product that can compete in that market. There's a reason they always add "... at this time" or similar such statements. Nobody wants to tell the shareholders "we can't figure out how to compete in this market right now" or "we're missing the boat but we're struggling to catch up." Secrecy is Apple's game.
Not sure what "boat" they should feel they're missing. They are making money hand over fist in the worst economy since they existed. They are cash rich to the tune of thirty million dollars. Most companies in similar markets with much more marketshare are swimming in debt.
Actually they make a good mirror to the reasons we are where we are in the first place. CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP!!! I WANT IT NOW! attitudes are the only reason higher quantity, lower build quality products do so well. funny thing is, in almost every single product segment more spent up front means higher retained value, longer upgrade cycles, and more return when selling to upgrade.
They just aren't playing that game. It seems to serve them well, and those with apple products seem pretty damn happy about them.
I mean, the logic is flawed. They just don't want to participate in that product segment or they are working on something that they don't want to give any insight into so they bluff.
Their answer will more than likely be an uber compact macbook with touchscreen that uses 3G/4G onboard and will STILL be in a price range that everyone will whine about. Thing is, it will sell. Not in the quantities cheaper alternatives do, but sell none-the-less and people who want OS X will buy it if they are in the market for a tiny notebook.
I would think Apple is in a pretty good position at the moment Tim Cook along with Ives and Schiller are looking like a viable replacement should something happen to Jobs and they have enough money to R&D and buy assets all day long.
Apple isn't required to compete in every PC market. They've clearly done quite well over the past decade (and this past quarter) just focusing on making great products in specific areas.
March isn't a quarter? You mean Q1 or best month?
quarters are named after the last month in that quarter. So for Jan-Feb-Mar it's the March Quarter.
interesting that he says:
"Not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on."
But a consumer experience that will be defined (from Apple's side) with the iPhone/iPod Touch brand? The larger scale iPod Touch is going to be Apple's response to netbooks. I'm wondering wat their implementation will be.
re: apple's statement; what a bunch of elitist pricks... make a $300 netbook yourself before you talk that kind of trash.
Elitist pricks? All he's saying is, "we don't want to make a netbook", and providing some reasons about why it goes against their design principles. Please stop pretending that Apple just personally insulted your house/family name/way of life.
Calling a whole product segment "junky" is elitist, when the only reason they did it is because they cant offer a competing product at the same price, and claim credit for inventing the concept.
It is elitist, if another consumer says: "I don't buy crappy Netbooks, I'll buy an Macbook Air with SSD etc. cause I can Fu... afford it. Whoever buys one is an idiot!" That is elitist stupidity.
But for Apple to say, we're not building a cash-draining, margin-shrinking and possibly loss-providing product that is destroying our brand-image. That is not elitist. That is what every investor should expect of a company that's partially his/hers. I also wouldn't want Parsche to start building competitors to the new Tata simply because this little piece of crap has bigger sales-numbers.
Building Netbooks isn't a welfare-move by Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, etc. Those companys have always been dependend on selling huge numbers of hardware. As PC-demand declines they do everything to keep up their volumes. They need to earn enough to cover their fixed expenses. All I know (people in this business told me) is that most of these competitors lose money with each Netbook sold. Only problem is: They'd lose even more not selling Netbooks...
That isn't what he said, Runner76... read what Tim Cook ACTUALLY said vs. your oh-so industry wise and interpolated philosophy on Netbooks and loss-leaders. Look_Around_You caps it perfectly --to refer to an entire market segment that people are CLEARLY demanding (despite whatever the actual economics are) is in fact an elitist and prick attitude to have. And on that note... that was all I qualified my remark upon; that they are elitist pricks by claiming something like a Netbook is a piece of junk when they don't even compete with it. They also infer that anyone who buys or uses one is somehow inferior for using/wanting a Netbook by claiming an iPhone (with a mandatory 2-year contract) or an iPod Touch is some kind competitive substitute. Furthermore, Mr. Cook leaves the door open by saying "We are looking at the space" and "If we find a way to deliver... a product." Lastly, if Apple doesn't want to dilute their brand (as Porsche wouldn't either, from your example) by building a competitive, low-cost device/product then that is their right, true... but his statement is tantamount to peeing on someone's leg and telling them that it's raining --build your pretty and expensive machines and be happy but don't go crapping on anyone else's cornflakes because they don't taste like yours --that's an elitist prick.
@47images
Someone didn't get a long enough nap.
Apple saying that a netbook with limited abilities ( i.e. internet ) is junky, is not being an "elitist prick".
To me that is perfectly valid point. It is a lesser machine. ( e.g. steak or bologna ) Steak can be a Mac or PC.
Companies take stabs at each other all the time. This isn't a personal attack on you for buying a netbook.
Hopefully your nap goes better this afternoon.
When did engadget editors get the power to jump in at reply threads?