Wouldn't you just not use it if you didn't want fingerprints?
I've never had any use for the firewire and display ports on my macs, but I wouldnt say I hate having them. If you want to use it, its there. If you don't then you don't. Same with Apple's current mouse. If you want a right click you can, if you don't then you can stick to one button.
Apple has not shown signs that they will add 'touch' to OSX like Microsoft did with Windows 8. I think I recall Steve Jobs saying that it doesn't make sense in a screen that is always held in the verticals position (tiring of the hands).
To me it seems like it would be inefficient because it would take time to look back at the keyboard to reposition your hands after touching the screen. A touch pad (below the keyboard) is different because your hands can still immediately move back to the keyboard.
It may be useful for Xcode / iOS software development where you want to simulate a touch screen device, but that is a special case.
Steve Jobs did say that, but he also said people don't want phones that do everything and individual devices like iPods were the future. All while working on the iPhone.
Anything Apple says is generally irrelevant to what they will do in the future because there just marketing what they have now. When they go against it they will claim that they have solved the problem. Even if there doing exactly the same as everyone else.
There are two assumptions that you are making that I don't think are necessarily true.
Paragraph #1: You are comparing the current sized MBA (which was released close to three years ago) with the recently released MBP. Who's to say that Apple might not further reduce the size of a "13 rMBA (and naturally make it more expensive)? You would then have reason to keep the 13" rMBA and 13" rMBP models in the product line.
Paragraph #2: A iPad can not replace a 11" MBA! They are two completely different products. An 11" MBA can run both Windows and OSX software, anything from Xcode for writing iPhone software to advanced engineering analysis software in Windows. It may be slower than the MBP but you can get it done on the road if you really need to. An iPad can't do these things.
There may be some people who do minimal work on their MBA who could use an iPad instead. I'm sure, however, that Apple realizes that there are people (like me) who want a super portable computer that is a fully capable Windows / OSX machine. That is precisely the 11" MBA.
I agree that you can do things on an Air that you can't do on an iPad, and i also fall into the camp of people who must have a full-fledged computer, but I don't think that's where the majority of the market is anymore, which I believe is one of the reasons the iPad is so successful.
For the people who mainly surf the web, use Facebook, Tweet, respond to email, watch YouTube, play a few games, read ebooks and maybe do some slight manipulation of photos, a Pad is more than enough. And Apple is selling far more Pads than computers.
Comments
Apple has not shown signs that they will add 'touch' to OSX like Microsoft did with Windows 8. I think I recall Steve Jobs saying that it doesn't make sense in a screen that is always held in the verticals position (tiring of the hands).
To me it seems like it would be inefficient because it would take time to look back at the keyboard to reposition your hands after touching the screen. A touch pad (below the keyboard) is different because your hands can still immediately move back to the keyboard.
It may be useful for Xcode / iOS software development where you want to simulate a touch screen device, but that is a special case.
We shall see... Maybe it is inevitable.
Anything Apple says is generally irrelevant to what they will do in the future because there just marketing what they have now. When they go against it they will claim that they have solved the problem. Even if there doing exactly the same as everyone else.
I agree that you can do things on an Air that you can't do on an iPad, and i also fall into the camp of people who must have a full-fledged computer, but I don't think that's where the majority of the market is anymore, which I believe is one of the reasons the iPad is so successful.
For the people who mainly surf the web, use Facebook, Tweet, respond to email, watch YouTube, play a few games, read ebooks and maybe do some slight manipulation of photos, a Pad is more than enough. And Apple is selling far more Pads than computers.