Analysts told us in December that we Apple would unveil netbooks in January at the MacWorld Conference and Expo. No such luck.

And yet the rumors have persisted and now fresh reports claim that Apple plans to roll out a touch screen netbook this year. All this after Steve Jobs said publically that Apple “don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk.”

If the latest gossip is to be believed — and this is from the Dow Jones Newswire — the mysterious Apple netbook could be out as early as the second half of this year in time for back-to-school sales. An unnamed source told the Dow Jones Newswire that Apple’s mini-laptops will likely have screens between 9.7-inches and 10-inches, putting them right in netbook category.

Apple is said to be working with Taiwan’s Wintek to create the touch screen displays and Quanta Computer, the world’s largest netbook maker, to manufacture the new netbooks.