Apple’s chief operating officer and acting CEO Tim Cook debunked all rumors of a low-end line of iPhone nano phones and netbooks yesterday. Both have hot subject’s of speculation for some time now, but neither have materialized.
Despite what Cook said at Apple’s earnings call yesterday, some bloggers continue to read into what he said, twisting his words in such a way that allows for continued rumor-mongering.
Techradar even has a name for reading subliminal messages in Apple speak: the reality distortion unscrambler.
From Techradar:
Apple has appeared to dismiss the idea of an Apple netbook, with acting-CEO Tim Cook saying netbooks have “hardware that’s much less powerful than what customers want,” with “cramped keyboards” and “small displays.” He’s summed up Apple’s attitude to netbooks by saying: “We think the products there are inferior.”
That’s been interpreted by some reporters as a ‘dismissal’. To me, that’s the sound of Apple interestedly rubbing its hands together.
“Hardware that’s much less powerful than what customers want” is the sound of Apple tracing its finger along the Moore’s Law curve and reading off a hardware delivery date.
“Cramped keyboards” and “small displays” is Apple-ese for “opportunity for cool interface innovations.”
“We think the products there are inferior” is another way of saying, “we have a clear view on what they are inferior for. Therefore, we could do them better if we wanted to”.
Wow, the unscrambler is quite the tool. But the fact remains that Apple has always produced higher-end quality products and catered to a market that purchases higher-end products. To enter low-end markets now would likely damage Apple’s brand reputation by diluting it. Would it be worth it for the company? I don’t think so. Apple just earned over $10 billion in one quarter–in one of the worst economic environments since its inception. Has anyone ever heard the line, “If it works, don’t fix it”?
