Why Apple Would Be Crazy to Introduce a Sub-Notebook
Rumors have popped up about Apple introducing a sub-notebook to compliment the MacBook Pro line some time at Macworld. However, Apple would be foolish to sell such a Mac when they can focus on more portable priorities.
The iPhone should be Apple’s focus, alongside an iTablet. Realizing I sound like a broken record now (has it really been 4 years?), I have a valid opinion on this matter that will indirectly bring massive improvements to the technological industry.
A Macbook Pro in MacBook has been desired for quite some time. The two lines compete with each other on such a similar scale, Apple would have to be mad to fuddle the product line even more. An iPhone in a similar (but not too close) UMPC form factor will cause three things to occur: reduction in Flash memory and touchscreen component costs, faster adoption to a touch based computing environment, and cooler, more efficient processors.
Cost
Laptop parts are in plentiful supply for manufacturers, but Solid State Drives and smaller LCDs are in short supply when compared to mobile parts. Laptops are quickly becoming desktops in mobile forms, and as such are acquiring desktop functionality. UMPCs and smart phones are an uncharted territory with parts that are still expensive. Releasing products that rely on this architecture will fuel adoption and lower prices as demand rises, thus making it more affordable for consumers.
A sub-notebook could accomplish the same thing, but if the decision (and judging by the rumors of how thin this thing will be, cutting corners will be necessary) is to include flash, Apple could have the leverage needed to lower flash prices; however, not as much if they were to utilize flash memory in better selling devices, namely the iPhone and similar incarnations.
Widespread Adoption
Laptops have had their chance at computer domination and they’ve done quite well, to be honest. They compete head to head with desktops on a per feature basis and, as high end components, reduce their power consumption and heat dissipation. This has put laptops at a fair advantage, and their only hindrance is price, which is going down and down.
The same cannot be said for a UMPC like device. True, a sub-notebook would cost a bit more compared to a notebook of the same specs, but the price will drop and will follow the same path. A smart phone, or even something more advanced, is still being adopted at a slow (but increasing) pace. Products that can bring the basic features of a laptop in a smaller form, smaller than a UMPC, will eventually dominate their mobile counterparts.
That, and the widespread use of a touch interface, would lay the groundwork for such a computing environment to reign supreme, bringing a beat down on the mouse we have come to know and love.
Optimized Mobile Components
As mobile based computers shrink in size, the need for faster processors and enhanced methods for transferring data arise. This trend has continued with laptops, but there is a significant downside to this. The progress made in this area is very hard to apply to more mobile systems, but the enhancements cell phones and UMPCs are getting can be applied to laptops.
Improvements such as faster and more energy efficient processors can be applied on a much greater scale to laptops. Even advancements in wireless data connections can somehow be integrated.
The reasoning for Apple to focus on their mobile products and not a sub-notebook is evident. I am not knocking Apple for considering one, but if they can delay it, everyone will reap the benefits.
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Slashdot
StumbleUpon
Comments
I’m sure that Apple would love to release a tablet. But Apple will not release a tablet until alternatives to LCD become more available and lower in cost. When a thinner, more durable and energy efficient alternative to lcd’s is feasible (maybe oled), then they will release a touch-screen tablet. I think they are waiting for the technology to allow them to make a thin durable tablet - one that can be tossed around without worry - that has a screen about the size of an 8 1/2” x 11” piece of paper- and that will have a good battery life and low-enough cost.
…here’s to the crazy ones…!
Apple has the technology on the shelf, they will make it. A lot of the products they introduce are based on investor demand, such as the iPod radio accessories, and boombox. Also, this is a new business area, so they have little to compete against, success is easier to accomplish as a first-mover. The new device will essentially be a super iphone, so the component prices will be more than covered when the device sells for 3 times an iphone’s price.
I’m not sure I understand your evidence.
Are you saying that Apple shouldn’t release a subnotebook because people will expect desktop class performance in a small form, and that this is a difficult and expensive area? Thus they should focus on their iPhone etc and build further on that so that the related technologies are developed while not expecting desktop performance (and thus cheaper)??
Or am I missing your point?
Anyway… I’d be very interested in seeing Apple make a 12inch iPhone (iTablet) in preference to a MacTablet. Or a subnotebook that is based purely on the iPhone, but with 12 inch screen, keyboard, and iLife/iWork built in.
Tanner Godarzi should go read Prof. Michael Porter’s two most famous books before trying to tackle this subject.
“I have a valid opinion on this matter that will indirectly bring massive improvements to the technological industry.”
Holy cow! That’s a powerful opinion, do tell.
“A Macbook Pro in MacBook has been desired for quite some time.”
Um okay, wait, what?
“A smart phone, or even something more advanced, is still being adopted at a slow (but increasing) pace.”
It is? Or even something more advanced? Damn! Who is adopting it? Which smart phone? Why won’t they tell?
It would appear that English is not Godarzi’s first or possibly even second language. It seems like he/she is suggesting that demand for products will drive the manufacturing costs of those products, and thefore the price to consumers, down. Eureka!
I’m not sure if the writer of this article, which is clearly not based on any empirical evidence, has even the most basic comprehension of economics:
“Releasing products that rely on this architecture will fuel adoption and lower prices as demand rises”
Unfortunately, a higher demand does not facilitate lower prices, in most cases it is just the opposite. For example, the case when Apple released black iPods at a higher price, not because they cost more, but rather because the demand was substantially higher. This can also be observed with the black macbooks. This is basic economics, maybe the writer of this article should have done more research…
I can’t wait to try and edit photos on my touch screen. I wonder what the colors will look like under all the finger grease.