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Apple may have missed the netbook boat by not producing a low-priced notebook to compete with the ultra-cheap portables that have cornered a significant portion of the PC market, a survey published today said.

“They have missed the bus from a timing perspective for the holidays,” said Manish Rathi, co-founder of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based online retailer Retrevo, which sponsored a poll of over 750 American consumers. “There’s a big time window this holiday season, and Apple doesn’t have a netbook.”

According to Retrevo’s survey, 37% of people who said that a Mac was their primary computer already own, or plan to buy, a netbook this year. A slightly smaller number, 35%, of consumers who use a Windows-based PC as their primary system said the same thing.

“Even worse for Apple is the fact that it’s already lost the early adopters, like the 59% of the iPhone owners who responded to the survey saying they already own or plan to buy a netbook this year,” added Rathi.

Apple’s lack of a competitor to Windows netbooks has sparked speculation in the past that the company would be forced to enter the fray, but its most recent quarterly earnings statement seemed to put the kibosh on that theory. In the third calendar quarter of 2009, Apple sold a record number of Macs , nearly two-thirds of them notebooks, without a bottom-end price-point model. Mac sales during July, August and September were up 17% over the same period a year before.

“Sure, Apple missed the bus as far as taking an appreciable share of that market,” said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. “They missed that bus from Day One.”

But that’s just the point, Gottheil continued. Apple only “missed the bus” if it’s just another computer maker. But it’s clearly not that.

“They were never going to come close to matching the price of Windows netbooks,” Gottheil argued. “For them to be successful, they don’t need to seriously erode the share sold by other vendors. So to say that they ‘missed the bus’ on netbooks, that’s just silly.”

Instead, Apple could introduce a device — call it a netbook, call it a tablet, it doesn’t matter, said Gottheil — and sell only a small number compared to the quantities delivered by the likes of ASUS or Acer, and still rake in lots of cash. It’s not a zero-sum game, said Gottheil: Sales of Windows netbooks don’t necessarily prevent Apple from selling something priced less than the current lowest-priced MacBook.

Like a tablet, for instance.

“Clearly, those who purchase Windows machines have expressed a certain price sensitivity compared to those who buy Macs,” Gottheil said. “But although Apple has stated that they think that phones are price sensitive, they overestimated that price sensitivity by understocking the $200 iPhone, and overstocking the $100 model. I think they have evidence that the notebook market isn’t quite as price-sensitive as some think,” he added, pointing to Apple’s recent refresh of its entry-level MacBook notebook , which it kept at $999.

That, Gottheil, continued, gives weight to a higher-, not a lower-priced, tablet, the long-rumored addition to Apple’s line that analysts have been beating the drum on for months .

By contrast, Retrevo’s poll indicated that for Apple to sell a tablet in large numbers, it will have to price the device under $600. According to the survey, while 68% of people who primarily use a Mac would be willing to fork over $600 or more for an Apple-made tablet, only 36% of consumers who spend most of their time on a Windows PC would pay that much.

“Mac loyalists will buy almost anything from Apple,” said Retrevo’s Rathi. “But how do you grow it past the loyalists?”

The only way, Rathi said, was to price it under $600. “If they had priced the original iPhone at $1,000, they wouldn’t have sold many,” Rathi added, arguing that to make a tablet a break-out buy, it has to appeal to non-Mac owners, as it did with the iPhone.

Gottheil countered that line of reasoning , too. “To say that a table could explode like the iPhone, no matter the price, is just crazy,” Gottheil said. “You have to buy a phone, but you don’t have to buy a tablet. If Apple enters that market, Amazon’s Kindle aside, it will essentially have to establish the category.”

Rumors of an Apple tablet received more credence today when reports surfaced of an off-the-record talk at Harvard by a New York Times editor last week. During the conversation, executive editor Bill Keller used the phrase “impending Apple slate” while describing the newspaper’s plans to deliver content to mobile devices

Microsoft has released a tool that lets netbook owners install Windows 7 on their machines using a USB flash drive, sidestepping the usual requirement of a DVD drive.

The utility, Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, creates a bootable flash drive from a downloaded .iso file, or disk image, of Windows 7, and can be purchased from Microsoft’s online store.

“This tool allows you to create a copy of the .iso file to a USB flash drive or a DVD,” said Microsoft in the instructions accompanying the tool. “To install Windows 7 from your USB flash drive or DVD, all you need to do is insert the USB flash drive into your USB port or insert your DVD into your DVD drive and run Setup.exe from the root folder on the drive.”

The USB/DVD Download Tool solves the problem facing netbooks users who want to upgrade to Windows 7, since virtually all netbooks lack a DVD drive. Earlier this year, rumors circulated that Microsoft might offer Windows 7 upgrades on a flash drive, but the talk turned out to be nothing but wishful thinking.

Users need a 4GB USB drive to install Windows 7 on a PC without an optical drive, Microsoft said. Other requirements include .NET Framework 2.0 or later, and the ability to run as administrator on the to-be-upgraded netbook.

The netbook’s BIOS must also be modified to set the boot order so that the USB drive is first on the list. “Please see the documentation for your computer for information on how to change the BIOS boot order of drives,” Microsoft recommended.

Last Thursday, Microsoft warned users to seek help if they were unfamiliar with tweaking the BIOS. “If you are not comfortable making this type of BIOS change, I recommend you seek some assistance from your favorite ‘tech geek,’” Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc urged in an entry to the Windows 7 blog .

Because most netbooks run Windows XP, only a “clean” upgrade to Windows — Microsoft dubs it “Custom” during the installation — is possible. That requires users to back up data and application settings before upgrading, then restore the data and settings, as well as reinstall all applications. (This Computerworld FAQ outlines the steps to take before beginning the Windows 7 upgrade from XP.)

The USB/DVD Download Tool is a 947KB file that can be downloaded from Microsoft’s site ( download .exe file ).

Microsoft has released a tool that lets netbook owners install Windows 7 on their machines using a USB flash drive, sidestepping the usual requirement of a DVD drive.

The utility, Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, creates a bootable flash drive from a downloaded .iso file, or disk image, of Windows 7, and can be purchased from Microsoft’s online store.

“This tool allows you to create a copy of the .iso file to a USB flash drive or a DVD,” said Microsoft in the instructions accompanying the tool. “To install Windows 7 from your USB flash drive or DVD, all you need to do is insert the USB flash drive into your USB port or insert your DVD into your DVD drive and run Setup.exe from the root folder on the drive.”

The USB/DVD Download Tool solves the problem facing netbooks users who want to upgrade to Windows 7, since virtually all netbooks lack a DVD drive. Earlier this year, rumors circulated that Microsoft might offer Windows 7 upgrades on a flash drive, but the talk turned out to be nothing but wishful thinking.

Users need a 4GB USB drive to install Windows 7 on a PC without an optical drive, Microsoft said. Other requirements include .NET Framework 2.0 or later, and the ability to run as administrator on the to-be-upgraded netbook.

The netbook’s BIOS must also be modified to set the boot order so that the USB drive is first on the list. “Please see the documentation for your computer for information on how to change the BIOS boot order of drives,” Microsoft recommended.

Last Thursday, Microsoft warned users to seek help if they were unfamiliar with tweaking the BIOS. “If you are not comfortable making this type of BIOS change, I recommend you seek some assistance from your favorite ‘tech geek,’” Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc urged in an entry to the Windows 7 blog .

Because most netbooks run Windows XP, only a “clean” upgrade to Windows — Microsoft dubs it “Custom” during the installation — is possible. That requires users to back up data and application settings before upgrading, then restore the data and settings, as well as reinstall all applications. (This Computerworld FAQ outlines the steps to take before beginning the Windows 7 upgrade from XP.)

The USB/DVD Download Tool is a 947KB file that can be downloaded from Microsoft’s site ( download .exe file

Dell’s growth plans focus on pairing its hardware and IT services offerings rather than on increasing PC unit shipments, a company executive said Wednesday, dismissing rival Acer’s rise past Dell in PC sales.

Dell will keep building its focus on IT services, most recently boosted by its decision to spend US$3.9 billion acquiring services provider Perot Systems, Steve Schuckenbrock, head of Dell’s enterprise business unit, told reporters at a briefing.

“Chasing units, just pure PC units is not our priority,” Schuckenbrock said. “If Dell shipped 100 percent of all the units in the industry at Acer’s profit margins, it would not add up to the profit of Dell.”

Taiwan-based Acer surpassed Dell to become the world’s second-largest PC vendor in the third quarter, when Acer’s 11 million shipped PC units outstripped Dell’s by about 1 million, according to IDC.

Dell is also always interested in expanding its virtualization software offerings, said Schuckenbrock.

The Perot deal could help Dell win IT infrastructure deals in China funded by a government fiscal stimulus package, said Paul Bell, head of Dell’s public sector unit, at the briefing. Much of China’s $587 billion package is headed for the health-care sector and for new hospitals, and Perot has ties with health and other government officials in China, said Bell.

China has been a bright spot for IT spending by companies in the economic downturn, said Schuckenbrock. Asia overall has also performed well compared to a challenged European market and the U.S., though Dell has seen signs of an economic pick-up in the country, he said.

The PC market in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan beat forecasts for the third quarter. The region’s market grew by 17 percent compared to a year earlier, higher than a forecast of 9 percent, IDC said this week. The growth benefited from a strong market in China and spending in the country’s public sector, IDC said.

The launch of Windows 7 this week could further boost IT spending at companies, partly because “Vista was a bust” and many companies are running aging machines with Windows XP, said Schuckenbrock. Hardware spending could pick up around the middle of next year as companies increasingly look to upgrade, he said.

“We’re bullish on it,” Schuckenbrock said of the OS

There was a little bit of everything this week — Sidekick users got a nasty surprise, Cisco made another acquisition, Oracle had its big user conference while questions lingered regarding the effect its plan to buy Sun will have, Biz Stone insisted he doesn’t want to sell Twitter, and the world prepared for the launch of Windows 7 next week even as administrators grumbled their way through a monster patch Tuesday.

1. T-Mobile, Microsoft tell Sidekick users we ‘continue to do all we can’ to restore data and Sidekick’s lesson: Back up your data: T-Mobile and Microsoft finally spoke up to say that they are dealing with problems that caused Sidekick users to lose data and contend with connection issues. Users of the smartphone were having problems for days, so the belated reaction of the companies vexed many of them. Meanwhile, the problems serve as a reminder that it’s important to back up data, no matter what device you have it stored on.

2. Starent buy continues Cisco’s direction toward collaboration and video: Cisco Systems plans to add Internet Protocol-based mobile infrastructure provider Starent Networks to its portfolio for a cool US$2.9 billion. Cisco announced on Oct. 1 that it is buying videoconferencing stalwart Tandberg for about $3 billion. The combination led Computerworld’s Matt Hamblen to liken Cisco to a 1930s-era Hollywood mogul, with its fingers reaching into distribution and content, including a steady advance into the mobile Internet space.

3. Reporter’s Notebook: Oracle OpenWorld 2009: CIO took an in-depth look at Oracle’s OpenWorld, offering keen insights into the show’s highs and lows. Meanwhile …

4, Fate of some Sun technologies still up in the air: While Oracle executives have been talking about various Sun Microsystems technologies, it has been noticed there are some they have not talked about, and some Sun officials involved in those technologies haven’t heard much about Oracle’s plans, if any.

5. Corporate PCs up to task of Windows 7, but age could be mitigating factor: Most corporate PCs will be able to support Windows 7, but considering that many companies have put update cycles on hold, they’ll have to weigh the costs of keeping aging hardware versus the cost of migrating to newer machines and upgrading existing applications, according to a newly released survey. And the weighing has undoubtedly begun in some quarters with the hoopla-laden launch of Windows 7 upon us next week.

6. Google Editions embraces universal e-book format: Google is getting into e-books, with plans to open Google Editions, an online store that will not be device-specific, so that content will work on an array of e-book readers. Just in time for all the new e-readers set to hit the market next year.

7. With botnets everywhere, DDoS attacks get cheaper: Well, at least something is coming down in price — unfortunately, that something is the cost of becoming a cyber criminal.

8. I don’t want to sell Twitter, says Biz Stone and Twitter users warned not to change passwords: Twitter cofounder Biz Stone insisted at an event in Tokyo that he does not want to sell Twitter. In other news from the microblogger this week, Twitter warned users that they should not change log-in information until further notice while it investigates why some lost access to their accounts after changing such information.

9. Hacked Facebook apps lead to fake antivirus software: Yet again, more applications that have shown up on Facebook are bad news. This time around some apps are fake antivirus programs. One such application is City Fire Department, where multiple users respond to an emergency.

10. The Patch Tuesday survival guide: We’ll spare readers details of Tuesday’s double punch of security patches from Microsoft and Adobe Systems — plenty of us lived through that day and some of us may still be trying to update. Instead, we’ll close the week by offering CSO’s handy survival guide for dealing with patch management

Netbooks were instrumental in the increase in PC shipments for most manufacturers during the third quarter, but Apple defied the trend despite offering standard laptops at premium prices, according to figures from analyst firm Gartner.

Apple executives in the past have trashed netbooks as junky devices with cramped keyboards and the company does not yet have a netbook on the market. Most PC vendors, including Acer, Hewlett-Packard and Dell are offering netbooks, which are low cost and designed to perform basic tasks like word processing.

Apple’s PC shipments in the U.S. grew year-over-year by 6.8 percent to total 1.57 million during the third quarter, placing the company fourth behind Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Acer, according to numbers released by Gartner on Wednesday. Overall PC shipments in the U.S. grew by 3.5 percent year-over-year to total 17.82 million.

Apple’s growth was driven by dedicated fans of the company’s products and the education market, said Mikako Kitagawa, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Comparatively, growth in PC shipments for companies like HP and Acer came from low-priced laptops and mini-notebooks, which includes netbooks. Netbooks especially helped Acer’s shipments, which grew by 61.4 percent year-over-year. HP’s third-quarter shipments grew by 2.7 percent.

Netbooks attracted interest during the quarter because of low prices, Kitagawa said. Dell offers netbooks, but its shipments dropped by 8.9 percent during the quarter, Gartner said.

Like Apple, Dell is trying to de-emphasize netbooks to focus on profit margins, but there is a difference between the companies, Katagawa said. Dell offers mini-notebooks, but isn’t as aggressive in the space as Acer and HP. Dell was the top PC vendor in the U.S. with a 26.2 percent market share, while Apple held an 8.8 percent market share.

Apple’s brand recognition means that its customers do not mind paying a premium, she said. “That is what they are built for, that is something no other PC vendor can do,” Kitagawa said.

Dell has especially struggled to build strong brand recognition, with issues surrounding customer support and product returns affecting the company’s reputation.

There is also a big installed base of Apple systems in the education market and those buyers tend to stick with Apple PCs. Dell has made an aggressive play in the education market in recent years, launching new products designed for use in schools and classrooms, and offering discounts.

“Switching to Windows is too expensive for that audience,” Kitagawa said.

Gartner’s PC shipment numbers are an estimate and will be finalized in November, Kitagawa said. IDC also reported third-quarter PC shipments on Wednesday, and said Apple’s shipments grew by 11.8 percent year-over-year. Apple is announcing its fourth quarter financial results on Monday, in which it will share the number of Macintosh laptops and desktops shipped during the quarter