Will Apple try to produce a Mini AIR, that is almost a certainity. What is truely bothersome is the idea that Apple will use a Core i series processor. The problem is this if you shrink the AIR even more your battery shrinks also, this would have a dramatic impact on battery life. This even if intel came out with an ULV Core i chip, which by the way they haven't yet.
Because of the battery issue if Apple went this small device route I suspect that they would use the new ATOMs or AMD's new Bobcat based cores. Here we would see the new chips delivering very good performance unlike the hardware of the past. Currently there is really no other way to deliver a low HEAT machine with good battery life in such a small form factor. Further such hardware should limit thermal throttling which makes the current AIR such a joke.
Now going to ATOM or Bobcat would require Apple to address a couple of image issues AIR already has. Without a doubt the number one issue is that it is too expensive for what you get. The second issue is that the AIR does not address the port requirements of the average traveler. AIRs relatively terrible performance is one thing but I know for a fact that the machine gets rejected more for the ports issue and local storage than anything else.
The issue of local storage is serious and I'm actually hoping for an on board SSD right on the motherboard. However I still want room for a 1.8" drive bay. The reality is modern software requires GB of "disk" space. Just installing XCode and the documentation can take up several GB of space. Then there is Eclipse, iWork, Open Office and whatever other assorted Apps you want to install. In the end you may literally go through 75 GB of storage before data is installed. So the SSD built into the mother board needs to be at least 128GB and hopefully double that. The 1.8" drive would be used for data by most people.
Much has been said about iOS on a clam shell, which I doubt will happen. The big issue being ergonomics. However that doesn't mean Apple can't add Touch like fearures to the Mac. The thing is they have to be added in a way suitable for the platform. Besides most users need the capabilities in Mac OS/X on their laptop. So Touch like features will come to Mac OS but will be implemented differently in a way suitable for desk top and oap top users. Otherwise iOS on a laptop is madness.
Finally when it comes to a much lower cost AIR, Apple needs to be targetting $800 not $1800. AIR is currently such a poor value that it should be no surprise that sales suck. No amount of marketing will over come design over function.
But it shares important aspects with netbooks too: 2 Gigs of RAM, small screen, smaller keyboard. It strikes me as a high-quality netbook - limited usability, with a tiny form factor.
it differs from a regular netbook in important respects, however: It cannot play HD movies via HDMI on your home theater system, it cannot access regular web video without crashing, no TV Tuner option, etc.
That goes something like: "It is better to remain silent and appear foolish than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
120GB 4200-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive or 128GB solid-state drive
9400M
5 hour battery
1 x USB 2
price £1174
Macbook
----------
Height:
0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
Width:
12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth:
8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight:
4.5 pounds (2.04 kg)
2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
250GB or 320GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
DVDRW
320M GPU
10 hour battery
MagSafe power port
Gigabit Ethernet port
One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
Mini DisplayPort
Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
SD card slot
Audio in/out
Kensington lock slot
price £999
optical drive weight: 170g
battery weight: 570g
Proposal
-------
remove the optical unit from the Macbook and move the hard drive to where the optical drive is, leaving room for a second drive.
Use the entire front of the Macbook for the battery and taper it. Aim for 6-7 hours of battery life and cut the battery size nearly in half down to 300g.
Between the two changes and a restructuring the weight can go down by 500g. This makes it 1.54kg vs 1.36kg for the MBA.
Keep the dimensions the same but taper the height from say 0.5 inch to 0.76 inch. This would require dropping Firewire 800 and ethernet but instead they'd use 4 x USB 3 ports alongside magsafe and Mini-DP.
With the optical removal, smaller battery and dropping firewire etc, the price of this machine can hit the current £850 Macbook price and the last remaining plastic machine in Apple's lineup can finally be dropped.
People who want a Macbook Air get a cheaper, faster machine with more ports and accessible storage
People who want a Macbook get unibody construction, a lighter but stronger machine and more usable ports
The external optical is pretty much a non-issue these days and Apple can sell an external.
I'm 99.99% confident we will see MacBook Pro and Air updates by the end of October. The MBP are 164 days old with an average product cycle of 208 days, and the MBA is 473 days old, long overdue. MacBooks historically get updated in October for the holiday season. Also, the iMac has officially adopted the i3 and i5 series chips, so expect those to enter Macbooks as well.
I'm not saying anything will happen but it could imo. So as the Air and MBP merge (as you suggest) and become the new MBP the Air becomes the pad in a clamshell. I believe that IOS and OSX will, over time, come together some way, if not completely - trucks and cars as SJ put it but over time IOS (the car) will be what most people use including business users. It is difficult to predict, of course. Personally I can't see why power users such as coders, graphic designers etc cant use a future iteration of IOS, or at least an OSX with a very IOS like interface. IOS is very tied down to screen resolutions and I have no idea how things will pan out in this area but I am dead curious to look into a crystal ball and take a look at IOS 8, or OSX 12. I think we will see great synergies.
Obviously aspects of iOS and OSX will migrate between the two platforms over time. That however is very different from suggesting that these new macbook airs (if they happen) will be running iOS. I'd peg that chance at precisely 0%.
I still expect the MacBook Air to go iOS. There have been 2 major updates to iWork for the iPad, Microsoft is mulling an Office version for the iPad, and other major software vendors are also considering their wares for the platform. To make the MacBook Air smaller requires solid state tech. Might as well make it a iPad-notebook.
I think one of the limiting factors in making the MacBook Air super-thin is the mechanical keyboard. It requires keys that move a few millimeters and an LED backlight system. How do you get rid of that? By using a touchscreen. Maybe something like an AMOLED panel. It wouldn't need to have extremely high resolution because it only needs to show QWERTY etc.
Another benefit would be the elimination of a separate trackpad. Swiping, pinching, and tapping could be detected anywhere on the keyboard touchscreen. No need to move your hand off the keyboard and down to the trackpad for mouse gestures.
Eliminating the discrete trackpad could keep component costs down, since an AMOLED screen that size, even though it wouldn't need to have extremely good color or resolution, would be expensive. On the other hand, there would be far fewer manufacturing steps since there aren't 60+ keys and springs to snap together (in different configurations for different languages.)
But is the world ready for virtual keyboards everywhere? Even on Macs? I'm not sure. Depends on how many Mac users are real touch-typers...
The reason no one buys that thing is it's way to expensive. It's a netbook at Pro pricing. It's should be $600. It's slow, breaks to easy and sports an iPod hard drive.
Is the heat/video problems. We had one and loved it but watching video content would heat it up and then the processor would throttle and the video would fall apart. So we sold it. If they fixed that problem we would buy another one in a second. Size was great price I would agree was a little high.
Try CoolBook - amazing transformation with a combination of undervolting and throttling. Huge benefits to battery life and cooler MBA. (I am not the developer). I'm on my second Air and wouldn't be without it.
Jobs implied 'NetBooks' were too compromised - but they were then mainly 9"/10". 11.7" is damn near what has been previously been considered a full size screen on a notebook - 12" PowerBook, iBook 12". Apple wouldn't compromise on the keyboard, but 11.7" screen would fit nicely above the current keyboard if it ran edge-to-edge.
It would be a double whammy for PC Netbook makers. Hit by the iPad from one side and the 11.7" Air from the other (albeit almost certainly at a higher pricepoint).
The reason no one buys that thing is it's way to expensive. It's a netbook at Pro pricing. It's should be $600. It's slow, breaks to easy and sports an iPod hard drive.
Does anyone actually look at the specs before making comments.
Yes, SJ has this nasty habit of pooping on an idea, and then years later, come out with the very thing he pooped on. Consider the tablet computer. For years SJ crapped on that and now we have the iPad. He pooped on the smartphone for years too and then came out with the iPhone. He has stated in the past that he thinks netbooks are a waste and poorly build devices, well, maybe now we'll see his answer to that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevt
Try CoolBook - amazing transformation with a combination of undervolting and throttling. Huge benefits to battery life and cooler MBA. (I am not the developer). I'm on my second Air and wouldn't be without it.
Jobs implied 'NetBooks' were too compromised - but they were then mainly 9"/10". 11.7" is damn near what has been previously been considered a full size screen on a notebook - 12" PowerBook, iBook 12". Apple wouldn't compromise on the keyboard, but 11.7" screen would fit nicely above the current keyboard if it ran edge-to-edge.
It would be a double whammy for PC Netbook makers. Hit by the iPad from one side and the 11.7" Air from the other (albeit almost certainly at a higher pricepoint).
Yes, SJ has this nasty habit of pooping on an idea, and then years later, come out with the very thing he pooped on. Consider the tablet computer. For years SJ crapped on that and now we have the iPad. He pooped on the smartphone for years too and then came out with the iPhone. He has stated in the past that he thinks netbooks are a waste and poorly build devices, well, maybe now we'll see his answer to that.
I think you may be confusing no liking the results of some vendors as not liking the entire idea in and of itself. You use the iPhone as an example to support your argument but I think it decimates your position. The iPhone showed just how bad the smartphone industry. Even Google started over after spending two years going in the wrong direction.
As for a 11.6" notebook, I wouldn't consider that a netbook unless it was using an ARM CPU, an even then it's nearly 2" larger than the crap netbooks plaguing the low-end of the market and only a half-inch smaller on the diagonal than the 12" PowerBook and iBook they sold for years.
Here's the thing: Apple is a company that "experiments" within their labs. Not on the market. When they place a product in the market, they don't do it to use actual people as guinea pigs for their crazy ideas and see what fits. They take that hard work for themselves.
It already is an iOS netbook. It's better than most netbooks right now. And its OS will be better. It will be a walled garden, and many people will not like it. We will see how much "walling" it will have as we see it progress towards infinity.
as i was told by an apple engineer that gave a talk on the iphone: 'the iphone os IS os x'
as i was told by an apple engineer that gave a talk on the iphone: 'the iphone os IS os x'
Right from Apple?s convention.
They even have several press releases that mention it that way, too, you can dig up. There site documents used to say it but they?ve redone those designed many times over by now.
I suppose it depends on how you are defining your parameters for ?merging?. NeXTSTEP became Mac OS X which branched into iOS. Then parts of iOS have since made it back to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with the classic example being the new QuickTime engine.
Yes, SJ has this nasty habit of pooping on an idea, and then years later, come out with the very thing he pooped on.
Why would anyone emphasize something they arnt ready to do? Ever hear of the Osborne effect?
Quote:
Consider the tablet computer. For years SJ crapped on that and now we have the iPad.
The iPad may have a tablet form factor, but its nothing like the tablets that predated it. Personally I think that's a huge reason why it's overtaken the "tablet" market since it's release
Quote:
He pooped on the smartphone for years too and then came out with the iPhone.
Again, the smart phones before the iPhone sucked. His criticism (much like with the tablets) was well founded. It so painful to think about just how bad they were, most people totally take for granted mature app stores with lots of quality choices, syncing all kinds of content with your phone, computer and the cloud, surfing the Internet and having it be useable, upgrading you phone OS for new features without having to get a new phone - none of that stuff was widespread or even very useable before the iPhone. Too many competing interests that were self serving for either the OS manufacturers, carriers or phone producers. What got lost was the end user!
Enter Apple.
Quote:
He has stated in the past that he thinks netbooks are a waste and poorly build devices, well, maybe now we'll see his answer to that.
They are a waste and a crappy experience for all but the most hardcore geek that is willing to overlook the steaming pile of mediocrity that is the net book experience. And I'd say the iPad is already doing a fine job against Netbooks. I do expect Apple to eventually release an iOS device with a keyboard. A clamshell? Something else? Who knows - but there are to many instances where a real keyboard is much more desireable - even though I am typing this on an ipad right now. Once that happens game over for sure.
I never said the MBA was a netbook. I was responding to the notion that many people, in this article and on the forums, are predicting this smaller foot-print MBA could be Apple's answer to the netbook. Time will tell the truth.
J [Steve Jobs]: There are no plans to make a tablet. It turns out people want keyboards. When Apple first started out, "People couldnit type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this." "We look at the tablet and we think itis going to fail." Tablets appeal to rich guys with plenty of other PCs and devices already. "And people accuse us of niche markets." I get a lot of pressure to do a PDA. What people really seem to want to do with these is get the data out . We believe cell phones are going to carry this information. We didn't think we'd do well in the cell phone business. What weive done instead is we've written what we think is some of the best software in the world to start syncing information between devices. We believe that mode is what cell phones need to get to. We chose to do the iPod instead of a PDA.
The point I was trying to make was that SJ comes out all the time an dog's on technology, and then Apple produces an answer to the very thing he previously stated he dislikes. It's not that i think SJ's being disingenuous or pulling a bait and switch, I just think he's cleverly hiding the fact that they are working on very successful solutions to all the pet peeves he has with current technology. Compliment not criticism.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism
I think you may be confusing no liking the results of some vendors as not liking the entire idea in and of itself. You use the iPhone as an example to support your argument but I think it decimates your position. The iPhone showed just how bad the smartphone industry. Even Google started over after spending two years going in the wrong direction.
As for a 11.6" notebook, I wouldn't consider that a netbook unless it was using an ARM CPU, an even then it's nearly 2" larger than the crap netbooks plaguing the low-end of the market and only a half-inch smaller on the diagonal than the 12" PowerBook and iBook they sold for years.
They even have several press releases that mention it that way, too, you can dig up. There site documents used to say it but they?ve redone those designed many times over by now.
I suppose it depends on how you are defining your parameters for ?merging?. NeXTSTEP became Mac OS X which branched into iOS. Then parts of iOS have since made it back to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with the classic example being the new QuickTime engine.
not sure what you are getting at? are you saying that the engineer was mistaken in telling me that?
The point I was trying to make was that SJ comes out all the time an dog's on technology, and then Apple produces an answer to the very thing he previously stated he dislikes. It's not that i think SJ's being disingenuous or pulling a bait and switch, I just think he's cleverly hiding the fact that they are working on very successful solutions to all the pet peeves he has with current technology. Compliment not criticism.
1) The part you quoted is from June 2003. Mac OS X was still 10.2.6 ?Jaguar?! It?s quite possible that they had no skunkworks on those products in the works at that time.
2) Seeing a market and saying ?it?s crap, I think we can do better? is something I admire and trying to capitalize on the ineptitude of these markets isn?t Apple jumping in with a ?me too? product so any such comments about the smartphone, tablet and netbook markets being crap I think he means wholeheartedly. Who knew how much better the entire cellular market could get in such a short time because of Apple?s emergence? Even Android fanatics need to thank Apple for entering this market.
3) He and all good showman use misdirection. I wouldn?t classify this as bait and switch, as it?s the absence of bait. While still not bait and switch, closer to it is the vapourware we see from other companies making lofty promises they have no intention of following through on just to delay sales to other companies.
Comments
Because of the battery issue if Apple went this small device route I suspect that they would use the new ATOMs or AMD's new Bobcat based cores. Here we would see the new chips delivering very good performance unlike the hardware of the past. Currently there is really no other way to deliver a low HEAT machine with good battery life in such a small form factor. Further such hardware should limit thermal throttling which makes the current AIR such a joke.
Now going to ATOM or Bobcat would require Apple to address a couple of image issues AIR already has. Without a doubt the number one issue is that it is too expensive for what you get. The second issue is that the AIR does not address the port requirements of the average traveler. AIRs relatively terrible performance is one thing but I know for a fact that the machine gets rejected more for the ports issue and local storage than anything else.
The issue of local storage is serious and I'm actually hoping for an on board SSD right on the motherboard. However I still want room for a 1.8" drive bay. The reality is modern software requires GB of "disk" space. Just installing XCode and the documentation can take up several GB of space. Then there is Eclipse, iWork, Open Office and whatever other assorted Apps you want to install. In the end you may literally go through 75 GB of storage before data is installed. So the SSD built into the mother board needs to be at least 128GB and hopefully double that. The 1.8" drive would be used for data by most people.
Much has been said about iOS on a clam shell, which I doubt will happen. The big issue being ergonomics. However that doesn't mean Apple can't add Touch like fearures to the Mac. The thing is they have to be added in a way suitable for the platform. Besides most users need the capabilities in Mac OS/X on their laptop. So Touch like features will come to Mac OS but will be implemented differently in a way suitable for desk top and oap top users. Otherwise iOS on a laptop is madness.
Finally when it comes to a much lower cost AIR, Apple needs to be targetting $800 not $1800. AIR is currently such a poor value that it should be no surprise that sales suck. No amount of marketing will over come design over function.
Dave
But it shares important aspects with netbooks too: 2 Gigs of RAM, small screen, smaller keyboard. It strikes me as a high-quality netbook - limited usability, with a tiny form factor.
it differs from a regular netbook in important respects, however: It cannot play HD movies via HDMI on your home theater system, it cannot access regular web video without crashing, no TV Tuner option, etc.
That goes something like: "It is better to remain silent and appear foolish than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
------------
Height:
0.4-1.94 cm (0.16-0.76 inch)
Width:
32.5 cm (12.74 inches)
Depth:
22.7 cm (8.9 inches)
Weight:
1.36 kg (3 pounds)
1.86GHz or 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
2GB RAM
120GB 4200-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive or 128GB solid-state drive
9400M
5 hour battery
1 x USB 2
price £1174
Macbook
----------
Height:
0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
Width:
12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth:
8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight:
4.5 pounds (2.04 kg)
2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
250GB or 320GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
DVDRW
320M GPU
10 hour battery
MagSafe power port
Gigabit Ethernet port
One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
Mini DisplayPort
Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
SD card slot
Audio in/out
Kensington lock slot
price £999
optical drive weight: 170g
battery weight: 570g
Proposal
-------
remove the optical unit from the Macbook and move the hard drive to where the optical drive is, leaving room for a second drive.
Use the entire front of the Macbook for the battery and taper it. Aim for 6-7 hours of battery life and cut the battery size nearly in half down to 300g.
Between the two changes and a restructuring the weight can go down by 500g. This makes it 1.54kg vs 1.36kg for the MBA.
Keep the dimensions the same but taper the height from say 0.5 inch to 0.76 inch. This would require dropping Firewire 800 and ethernet but instead they'd use 4 x USB 3 ports alongside magsafe and Mini-DP.
With the optical removal, smaller battery and dropping firewire etc, the price of this machine can hit the current £850 Macbook price and the last remaining plastic machine in Apple's lineup can finally be dropped.
People who want a Macbook Air get a cheaper, faster machine with more ports and accessible storage
People who want a Macbook get unibody construction, a lighter but stronger machine and more usable ports
The external optical is pretty much a non-issue these days and Apple can sell an external.
(product cycle source: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/)
I'm not saying anything will happen but it could imo. So as the Air and MBP merge (as you suggest) and become the new MBP the Air becomes the pad in a clamshell. I believe that IOS and OSX will, over time, come together some way, if not completely - trucks and cars as SJ put it but over time IOS (the car) will be what most people use including business users. It is difficult to predict, of course. Personally I can't see why power users such as coders, graphic designers etc cant use a future iteration of IOS, or at least an OSX with a very IOS like interface. IOS is very tied down to screen resolutions and I have no idea how things will pan out in this area but I am dead curious to look into a crystal ball and take a look at IOS 8, or OSX 12. I think we will see great synergies.
Obviously aspects of iOS and OSX will migrate between the two platforms over time. That however is very different from suggesting that these new macbook airs (if they happen) will be running iOS. I'd peg that chance at precisely 0%.
Another benefit would be the elimination of a separate trackpad. Swiping, pinching, and tapping could be detected anywhere on the keyboard touchscreen. No need to move your hand off the keyboard and down to the trackpad for mouse gestures.
Eliminating the discrete trackpad could keep component costs down, since an AMOLED screen that size, even though it wouldn't need to have extremely good color or resolution, would be expensive. On the other hand, there would be far fewer manufacturing steps since there aren't 60+ keys and springs to snap together (in different configurations for different languages.)
But is the world ready for virtual keyboards everywhere? Even on Macs? I'm not sure. Depends on how many Mac users are real touch-typers...
Is the heat/video problems. We had one and loved it but watching video content would heat it up and then the processor would throttle and the video would fall apart. So we sold it. If they fixed that problem we would buy another one in a second. Size was great price I would agree was a little high.
Try CoolBook - amazing transformation with a combination of undervolting and throttling. Huge benefits to battery life and cooler MBA. (I am not the developer). I'm on my second Air and wouldn't be without it.
Jobs implied 'NetBooks' were too compromised - but they were then mainly 9"/10". 11.7" is damn near what has been previously been considered a full size screen on a notebook - 12" PowerBook, iBook 12". Apple wouldn't compromise on the keyboard, but 11.7" screen would fit nicely above the current keyboard if it ran edge-to-edge.
It would be a double whammy for PC Netbook makers. Hit by the iPad from one side and the 11.7" Air from the other (albeit almost certainly at a higher pricepoint).
The reason no one buys that thing is it's way to expensive. It's a netbook at Pro pricing. It's should be $600. It's slow, breaks to easy and sports an iPod hard drive.
Does anyone actually look at the specs before making comments.
Try CoolBook - amazing transformation with a combination of undervolting and throttling. Huge benefits to battery life and cooler MBA. (I am not the developer). I'm on my second Air and wouldn't be without it.
Jobs implied 'NetBooks' were too compromised - but they were then mainly 9"/10". 11.7" is damn near what has been previously been considered a full size screen on a notebook - 12" PowerBook, iBook 12". Apple wouldn't compromise on the keyboard, but 11.7" screen would fit nicely above the current keyboard if it ran edge-to-edge.
It would be a double whammy for PC Netbook makers. Hit by the iPad from one side and the 11.7" Air from the other (albeit almost certainly at a higher pricepoint).
Yes, SJ has this nasty habit of pooping on an idea, and then years later, come out with the very thing he pooped on. Consider the tablet computer. For years SJ crapped on that and now we have the iPad. He pooped on the smartphone for years too and then came out with the iPhone. He has stated in the past that he thinks netbooks are a waste and poorly build devices, well, maybe now we'll see his answer to that.
I think you may be confusing no liking the results of some vendors as not liking the entire idea in and of itself. You use the iPhone as an example to support your argument but I think it decimates your position. The iPhone showed just how bad the smartphone industry. Even Google started over after spending two years going in the wrong direction.
As for a 11.6" notebook, I wouldn't consider that a netbook unless it was using an ARM CPU, an even then it's nearly 2" larger than the crap netbooks plaguing the low-end of the market and only a half-inch smaller on the diagonal than the 12" PowerBook and iBook they sold for years.
The two OS won't merge. Period.
Here's the thing: Apple is a company that "experiments" within their labs. Not on the market. When they place a product in the market, they don't do it to use actual people as guinea pigs for their crazy ideas and see what fits. They take that hard work for themselves.
It already is an iOS netbook. It's better than most netbooks right now. And its OS will be better. It will be a walled garden, and many people will not like it. We will see how much "walling" it will have as we see it progress towards infinity.
as i was told by an apple engineer that gave a talk on the iphone: 'the iphone os IS os x'
as i was told by an apple engineer that gave a talk on the iphone: 'the iphone os IS os x'
Right from Apple?s convention.They even have several press releases that mention it that way, too, you can dig up. There site documents used to say it but they?ve redone those designed many times over by now.
I suppose it depends on how you are defining your parameters for ?merging?. NeXTSTEP became Mac OS X which branched into iOS. Then parts of iOS have since made it back to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with the classic example being the new QuickTime engine.
Yes, SJ has this nasty habit of pooping on an idea, and then years later, come out with the very thing he pooped on.
Why would anyone emphasize something they arnt ready to do? Ever hear of the Osborne effect?
Consider the tablet computer. For years SJ crapped on that and now we have the iPad.
The iPad may have a tablet form factor, but its nothing like the tablets that predated it. Personally I think that's a huge reason why it's overtaken the "tablet" market since it's release
He pooped on the smartphone for years too and then came out with the iPhone.
Again, the smart phones before the iPhone sucked. His criticism (much like with the tablets) was well founded. It so painful to think about just how bad they were, most people totally take for granted mature app stores with lots of quality choices, syncing all kinds of content with your phone, computer and the cloud, surfing the Internet and having it be useable, upgrading you phone OS for new features without having to get a new phone - none of that stuff was widespread or even very useable before the iPhone. Too many competing interests that were self serving for either the OS manufacturers, carriers or phone producers. What got lost was the end user!
Enter Apple.
He has stated in the past that he thinks netbooks are a waste and poorly build devices, well, maybe now we'll see his answer to that.
They are a waste and a crappy experience for all but the most hardcore geek that is willing to overlook the steaming pile of mediocrity that is the net book experience. And I'd say the iPad is already doing a fine job against Netbooks. I do expect Apple to eventually release an iOS device with a keyboard. A clamshell? Something else? Who knows - but there are to many instances where a real keyboard is much more desireable - even though I am typing this on an ipad right now. Once that happens game over for sure.
And I think you should check your data.
http://www.capitolvalley.net/2008/03...tes-table.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358514,00.asp
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/artic...Lots_Of_iPods/
J [Steve Jobs]: There are no plans to make a tablet. It turns out people want keyboards. When Apple first started out, "People couldnit type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this." "We look at the tablet and we think itis going to fail." Tablets appeal to rich guys with plenty of other PCs and devices already. "And people accuse us of niche markets." I get a lot of pressure to do a PDA. What people really seem to want to do with these is get the data out . We believe cell phones are going to carry this information. We didn't think we'd do well in the cell phone business. What weive done instead is we've written what we think is some of the best software in the world to start syncing information between devices. We believe that mode is what cell phones need to get to. We chose to do the iPod instead of a PDA.
The point I was trying to make was that SJ comes out all the time an dog's on technology, and then Apple produces an answer to the very thing he previously stated he dislikes. It's not that i think SJ's being disingenuous or pulling a bait and switch, I just think he's cleverly hiding the fact that they are working on very successful solutions to all the pet peeves he has with current technology. Compliment not criticism.
I think you may be confusing no liking the results of some vendors as not liking the entire idea in and of itself. You use the iPhone as an example to support your argument but I think it decimates your position. The iPhone showed just how bad the smartphone industry. Even Google started over after spending two years going in the wrong direction.
As for a 11.6" notebook, I wouldn't consider that a netbook unless it was using an ARM CPU, an even then it's nearly 2" larger than the crap netbooks plaguing the low-end of the market and only a half-inch smaller on the diagonal than the 12" PowerBook and iBook they sold for years.
Right from Apple?s convention.They even have several press releases that mention it that way, too, you can dig up. There site documents used to say it but they?ve redone those designed many times over by now.
I suppose it depends on how you are defining your parameters for ?merging?. NeXTSTEP became Mac OS X which branched into iOS. Then parts of iOS have since made it back to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with the classic example being the new QuickTime engine.
not sure what you are getting at? are you saying that the engineer was mistaken in telling me that?
I still expect the MacBook Air to go iOS.
I expect a MacBook Air form factor iOS device someday, but it won't be called MacBook.
The point I was trying to make was that SJ comes out all the time an dog's on technology, and then Apple produces an answer to the very thing he previously stated he dislikes. It's not that i think SJ's being disingenuous or pulling a bait and switch, I just think he's cleverly hiding the fact that they are working on very successful solutions to all the pet peeves he has with current technology. Compliment not criticism.
1) The part you quoted is from June 2003. Mac OS X was still 10.2.6 ?Jaguar?! It?s quite possible that they had no skunkworks on those products in the works at that time.
2) Seeing a market and saying ?it?s crap, I think we can do better? is something I admire and trying to capitalize on the ineptitude of these markets isn?t Apple jumping in with a ?me too? product so any such comments about the smartphone, tablet and netbook markets being crap I think he means wholeheartedly. Who knew how much better the entire cellular market could get in such a short time because of Apple?s emergence? Even Android fanatics need to thank Apple for entering this market.
3) He and all good showman use misdirection. I wouldn?t classify this as bait and switch, as it?s the absence of bait. While still not bait and switch, closer to it is the vapourware we see from other companies making lofty promises they have no intention of following through on just to delay sales to other companies.