There’s a bunch of chatter this morning on why it makes lots of sense for Apple to take their time with their rumored “media device” and release it sometime in the first half of 2010. Most of these blog posts on TechMeme are derived from a Gene Munster (Piper Jaffray) note to clients that states as much.
The reasoning goes, there’s no reason for Apple to step into the netbook fray at this time. Waiting another year is not going to cost much. Hmmm.
Already, Windows-based Netbooks are making strides against Apple Mac sales. I can’t see this trend letting up between now and then. Plus, exactly what possibly could change between now and then to make Macs less expensive against let’s say a $400 netbook or a $500 notebook? Sorry, a $999 MacBook isn’t going to be it. Apple is going to have to bring down their cost of notebooks during this time. If not, they will continue to lose market position.
It’s not just Windows-based Netbooks that are a threat here. Next year, Intel will be releasing their next generation small-device chipsets that won’t even run Windows because parts of the hardware have been left out to save power. If Microsoft doesn’t address this hole and Apple takes its time with their media pad, expect Intel or maybe Google to fill the void with a Linux distrobution like Moblin or Android.
Market threats aside, what about Apple engineering?
There’s plenty of reason to assume that Apple is not going to release a Tablet like device this year. I get that. They haven’t even started talking through what the ISVs need to do to address it. After all, we’re talking a different screen resolution, different performance, different use case.
And would Apple announce anything before it thinks it’s really ready? I don’t think so. A much better strategy is to wait for all the ducks to get in line and make doubley sure that engineering can actually deliver on a media pad device. No reason to get the ecosystem all geared up for something that’s going to take awhile to manufacture.
Will Apple pre-announce anything at WWDC? I hope so. Am I going to hold my breath? No. Instead, Apple will probably stay focused on the announcements of iPhone 3.0, which probably won’t even see the light of day until July anyway.
Incremental Blogger » Blog Archive » Would releasing an Apple … http://bit.ly/rwzrt
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Loren, there’s nothing wrong with your comment/ analysis (Gene Munster’s is another thing entirely, but let’s not speak bad of the absent) save for what you’re missing: the software angle. Any larger-footprint iTablet, MediaPad, ‘Touch Grande, or whatever it’s going to be called (larger than an iPhone), will for Apple mean first and foremost the need to stock it with some extraordinary content. I hope it will be e-books in some fashion, that Apple will manage to convince major book publishers/ copyright holders, that, since e-books will be the next big thing whether they like it or not, they may just as well do it in partnership with Apple rather than subject themselves to a many a false start, with potentially disastrous consequences, with other players (let’s call this the "better the Jobs you know strategy" ;-)) Apple certainly has the financial muscle to put out, say, all the Shakespeare; all Jane Austen; George Eliot; Dickens; London; Kipling; Tolstoy; Trollope, all classics (to begin with) in cross-referenced AND…
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Incremental Blogger » Blog Archive » Would releasing an Apple … http://bit.ly/rwzrt
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
#linux Would releasing an apple tablet in 2010 be a bad thing?: There’s a bunch of chatter this morning on why it makes l http://is.gd/C6li
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