Apple Netbook Rumor Resurfaces

He may be on a medical leave of absence, but Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs still has his stock price-impacting fingers involved in things in Cupertino. And apparently, those things include the fabled Apple netbook.

In fact, sources tell the Wall Street Journal that he’s specifically working on “new iPhone models and a portable device that is smaller than its current laptop computers but bigger than the iPhone or iPod Touch.”

That’s all there was, but it’s been enough to touch off yet another round of Apple netbook rumors, last found to be circulating in March when the news hit that Apple has ordered 10-inch touchscreens from Taiwan. The Taiwanese manufacturer, Wintek, was swift to confirm that Apple is a major client, but nothing more has come of it.

Is Jobs personally mulling a netbook – a form factor that he himself denounced only last fall? Apple isn’t saying one way or another.