Why Apple Is Sitting Out the Back-to-School Market Without a Netbook

One of the most overlooked reasons behind Apple's decision to sit out this year's back-to-school market without a new netbook is the weak economy. There's already evidence of parents scrimping on school supplies and fashions for their returning students, many of whom will also just have to do without the newest electronic gizmos.

Tech gurus like Om Malik cite CEO Steve Jobs' bias against the cramped styling of the increasingly popular netbooks as a reason for Apple "missing the boat" on the substantial low-cost market opportunity in netbooks even though it continues dominating the premium end of the spectrum. But Malik and like-minded critics are missing a much simpler explanation.

Exploding iPhones and iPods aside, perhaps we've hit a momentary plateau in back-to-school spending. Tempered by recession-inspired new frugality, many students and their parents are less compelled to buy new gadgets now -- and may not even warm to the idea over the coming holiday season. Maybe they are making do and concentrating instead on the content, rather than the conduit. Maybe a tepid market can only support so many new products, and Apple is better off waiting until the first half of 2010 to introduce its long-awaited iTablet for about $700, as analysts expect.

In other words, just maybe this is strategy -- not stupidity.