Apple R&D: The “R” Stands for Rumor
by John Paczkowski
Posted on October 13, 2008 at 11:17 AM PT
One of the investments we make is to introduce new products that initially cost more because they deliver an entirely new level of value to the customer. Then we ride the cost curves down with value engineering and volume manufacturing, leaving us far head of our competitors. We have some of these types of investments in front of us that I can’t discuss.”
The media will gather tomorrow at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters for an invitation-only event–presumably about updates to its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. And as with every Apple (AAPL) product launch, tomorrow’s has been preceded by feverish speculation about what form, exactly, those updates will take. Among the rumors currently making the rounds:
- Apple will uncrate a new line of MacBooks whose cases are carved from a single brick of aircraft-grade aluminum.
- Apple’s refreshed MacBook line will include a machine priced at below $1000, perhaps even as low as $800.
- The new MacBooks will feature glass, multi-touch trackpads and LED-backlit displays.
- They’ll swap out Intel’s chipset–not the central processor–for Nvidia’s MCP7A, which reportedly blows the doors off Intel’s G45 in the graphics department.
- Blu-ray will be offered as an option on high-end models.
- Finally, Apple’s new line of portables will include the unmatchable “state-of-the-art new product” to which Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and COO Tim Cook referred earlier this year, and that product will be a tablet. Something along the lines of the “MacBook Touch” described by MacDailyNews back in July.
Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like but fuller-featured multi-touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion’s haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. … App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too.”
An interesting spread of rumors, some quite likely, others improbable … and yet entirely plausible because, after all, it’s Apple we’re talking about. We’ll find out which of these proves true tomorrow at 10 a.m. PDT. I’ll be covering the event live, so be sure pay us a visit tomorrow.
Comments
I wonder how much of the recent stock market tank will effect Apple’s news. Will Apple hold back on some products they are ready to go to market with because they think consumer spending, especially on electronics, will be severely lower throughout the rest of this year or does that not matter to Apple and they’ll announce what they have?
Posted by Scott Stephens at October 13th, 2008 at 12:14 pmMuch has changed since that fateful Apple conference call. I think the success of Google’s Gmail platform has unleashed an era of coopetition at Apple, similar to the interdependence we witnessed between Apple and Microsoft for a number of years.
In recessionary times, people will scale back on nonessentials and make investments in lifeline technologies like Apple netbooks, stuff that helps people build their career even if their 9-to-5 job doesn’t.
I believe Apple is on the cusp of cultivating a new generation of Apple developers second only to the wave of apps inspired by the one and only Guy Kawasaki.
Posted by Brian Hayashi at October 13th, 2008 at 2:37 pm