More China IP Communications Stories

When a rumor persists this long, you start to get the feeling that it simply must be true.

 

This week, a Chinese-language news site is reporting that a subsidiary of the Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd that’s based in the communist nation is among the candidates to help develop a netbook from Apple Inc.

 

Digitimes reports here that the Commercial Times cites confidential sources from Foxconn Electronics Inc.’s component supply business that the China-based group is involved with the Cupertino, California company led by CEO Steve Jobs (News - Alert).

 

As TMCnet has reported, netbooks typically sell for about $400 and have emerged as a bright spot in the struggling electronics industry – though companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Lenovo have seen earnings dips and have been forced to lay off thousands of workers, partly because of the devices’ increasing popularity.

 

Apple (News - Alert) long has been rumored to be pursuing a netbook of its own, or what could amount to a larger version of its iPod Touch.

 

What makes the new Foxconn rumors sound familiar is that – as TMCnet reported – rumors emerged recently that another Chinese company, Wintek Corporation, told the Commercial Times that they were “working with Apple to develop some new products, but it said it does not know what applications the new products are for.”

 

Sound a little cloak and dagger to you? How very Apple. Jobs’ company is notorious for keeping secrets and then unleashing major products on the market. Consider the iPhone (News - Alert) 3G’s monumental launch last July.

 

So the truth is that no one is really sure what Apple has in mind, but these bits and pieces of information seem to point toward a netbook or at least netbook-like device.

 

As we said above, all this could be a confirmation of rumors, reported here by TMCnet, that Apple is eyeing a larger iPod Touch debut later this year.

 

Sources close to Apple reportedly have said that the company will release a large-screen device next fall, according to a Web-based blog that reviews Internet products and companies.

 

The Internet-ready touch-screen device – a major winner in Christmas sales – will feature a seven or nine-inch screen, and prototypes already have been seen, according to TechCrunch Co-editor Michael Arrington.

 

“Apple has been experimenting internally with large form tablet devices for years, one source says, but there was concern that users wouldn’t like the device,” Harrington writes. “The difference now is the iTunes app store, which has thousands of games and other applications that are perfect for a touch screen device with an accelerometer. Apple says more than 300 million applications have been downloaded since the App Store launched in July 2008.”

 

The notion of a larger-screen iPod Touch has been floating around for a while.

 

In one recent article, Fortune’s Dan Frommer said that a larger iPod Touch HD in the $500 to $600 range would be a big hit and compete against netbook laptops.

 

Stay tuned to TMCnet for developments.