At last weeks WWDC, Apple revamped the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. This clears the deck for the next portable Apple product. The current rumor mill is grinding on speculations for a tablet computing device. These visions are usually a cross between an iPod Touch and a Kindle. Many picture Steve Jobs upcoming return to Apple in biblical style; descending from a summit with tablets in hand. I think not.
After much discussion with my friend Macstradamus, he and I believe this product will be the heretofore shunned-by-Apple netbook. This series of articles will explain that product, the business model, and how Apple will save face from their previous public commentary on the subject.
Nascency no more.
Last October, Steve Jobs talked netbooks in a financial conference call. Among his comments on the product category were “we’ll wait and see how that nascent category evolves, and we have got some pretty interesting ideas if it does evolve” and “We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that.”
The category has evolved rapidly in the last 6 months. Apple may not know how to make a non-junk $500 mac, but they know very well how to make a $999 laptop that is fantastic tech.
I am postulating that they also know how to make an amazing $850 laptop. And that they know how to twist arms cell phone CEO’s arms into subsidizing breakthrough products. This combination will create the proverbial killer app. It’s actually a combination of feature and business model. It will be a 3G enabled lightweight laptop, subsidized to affordability (or at least the illusion thereof) by a two-year data plan.
Here is a quick look at expected specs, with more detail to come in a future article:
- Low-power, bottom-of-the-line Intel CPU
- Matte 10.1 screen (non-touch)
- 3-G network
- Aluminum Unibody enclosure
- SD memory card slot
- 250 GB HD
- 3.1 lbs
- 2-year data plan
Apple clearly does not want to build a $500 laptop. But they would probably love to build an $850 laptop, and have a cell phone carrier subsidize about half of it. A scaled down, low-power, always-on-the-internet, take anywhere Apple Netbook would explode on the market at a list price of $450 or so.
3G networking will be built in. They will then partner with a wireless carrier, most likely Verizon, to sell this subsidized Apple 10″ netbook with always-on 3G connectivity.
But what will they call this new product? Find out in Part 2 of this series.