Nokia may have the trendy netbook field all to itself - Apple may not play

Is it wishful thinking that Apple's new product will be a netbook?

We already know that Apple's Tim Cook has dissed netbooks in the past, so it would take a major turnaround for Apple to suddenly declare netbook love.

However, we continue to see speculation that Apple is planning a netbook. In a recent post on Nokia's netbook, I quoted the following from BusinessWeek:

This may be a move by Nokia to grab initiative from rival Apple. In the past several years, the iPhone maker has managed to grab significant share in the lucrative, fast-growing market for smartphones away from Nokia. Apple is also rumored to be developing a tablet netbook. With this announcement, Nokia may be trying to beat Apple to the punch.

Well, today I just read a Mashable post entitled "Steve Jobs Is Laser Focused on the Apple Tablet Netbook."

Actually, I just lied to you. The actual title of the post is "Steve Jobs Is Laser Focused on the Apple Tablet."

And certain rumors in the Mashable post, some taken from the Wall Street Journal, appear very non netbook-like:

Mr. Jobs killed the project twice in recent years, the first time because the battery life was too short, and the second time because there was insufficient memory.

and

There’s still no word on device specs, what operating system it will use, and when exactly it might launch.

The Wall street Journal article is not accessible, but someone at DailyTech read it. Here's some additional speculation that Mashable didn't quote:

According to the WSJ, Apple may be pressured to release its tablet at $499 or less, due to the plethora of Windows and Linux netbooks priced in the same range.

Apple's tremendous secrecy makes it hard to determine fact from fantasy....

In fact, DailyTech also notes the following:

In a brief email Mr. Jobs reportedly [told] the WSJ, "Much of your information is incorrect."