Apple to Commission New Vessel in MacBook Pro Fleet?
| by Joe Leo, Columnist | January 3, 2007 |
continued... from: previous page
Before the news rumor ever came out in regard to a 12" MacBook Pro, or the "MacBook Thin," there was discussion--believe it or not--of an even more ultra-portable/compact computer that could quite possibly be in the works. Instead of a small, thinner, and lighter notebook computer, what about a more super compact ultra-portable in a totally new form factor?
Say hello to... a tablet Mac! Or a Mac tablet, whichever you choose. (You say tomato, I say... you know, seems like this entire voyage has already set sail. It's just going aft backwards. Wait, isn't aft toward the stern, which already is the back of the boat.. oh, never mind).
If this new super compact ultra-portable computer took the form of a tablet computer, it seems highly out there. And this is where the rumor becomes totally speculation. The one where you dismiss it as just that and say, "Arrgghh!!" (oops, wrong place), "yeah, we'll see about that!"
It's akin to "The X-Files" where only Fox Mulder would believe in it without any proof needed, and his partner Dana Scully would kind of say yes and agree with him because she's his partner. But, being the renowned scientist/detective she is, Scully would look for hard data first before turning in her official report.
(This story sound familiar? Hard data. Oh yeah, the iPod "halo effect." But I digress).
It seems for that reason alone that the "tablet Mac" was left off the list of predictions for Macworld next week and labeled a rumor at that. Too out there for most. But then again, who's to say it won't happen? We'd concur with that analysis and consider it a plain rumor too-- if not for the reason that we have our own analysis related to this tablet Mac loosely based on some facts. "The truth is out there!"
One thing we kind of touched based with right here at PBCentral.com back on 11/28 was the idea of: what if we're all missing the whole picture here? Could the tablet Mac be what Steve has up his sleeve for 2007, intending to catch everyone by surprise? The infamous, "Oh, and one more thing...?"
As reported in that opinion piece, we coincidentally got to thinking whether this type of device, a tablet computer, would be "the next big thing"--albeit an oxymoron, since it wouldn't be big--that Steve Jobs will unveil at Macworld this year. And also, whether all these product leaks could be Apple working from within, trying to throw people off track. Why?
This is where the we look at the map again and figure out what route this voyage is taking, because for some reason, the ship (or sub, you choose again) has set sail without us even realizing it!
First, there is the report that Apple had applied for a patent involving the use of a virtual touch-screen interface used as an input device. Analysts and rumor mongers all said at once, "true iPod video!" and the word was etched into stone. (Heh heh heh. A tablet. Did you get that one? Now we're throwing you off track!).
Some even said the touch screen patent could be for the new "iPhone" coming our way.
But did anyone think of the virtual touch screen making a lot more sense on a computer? We did, but someone also did before us, and that someone was reputable columnist Jason D. O'Grady who writes the "Apple Core" blog for ZDNet.com, where he wrote about just that-- a tablet Mac utilizing a virtual touch screen.
Coincidentally, the same thing came to our mind because of a product which happened to catch our eye that was on the front page of CompUSA's weekly ad the week of 11/26-- Sony's "Micro PC" which sports a touch-screen interface allowing the user to operate the mini machine.
Which got us to thinking, maybe the patent for the virtual touch screen interface that Apple had been granted was not for a "real" video iPod designed specifically for viewing videos, but for something greater, such as a tablet Mac, similar to Sony's "Micro PC" tablet computer already on the market.
What if the return of the "ultra-portable" Mac is not a 12" MacBook Pro or "MacBook Thin" but instead, Apple's own form of a "micro PC?" (Oohh. We called an Apple a PC).
