Looks like Apple is up to it again, with the Apple iPod Air. just type in www.ipodair.com and see where it goes!
What do you think? is Apple up to something?
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Is Apple’s Tablet The iPod Air?
Credits:
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/is-apples-tablet-the-ipod-air/
« Math Was Created To Humble UsMorrissey: You Have Killed Me »Is Apple’s Tablet The iPod Air?
Can the Touch Revive Apple’s iPod Sales?
“We view the iPod market as bigger than the market for simple music players,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer. “We believe one of the iPod’s future directions is to become the first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform.”
Do any of you understand the boldness of that statement? And what was just tipped?
James Kendrick at JK on the Run noticed something even before the above was published:
Having an iPod Touch with largely the same functionality of the iPhone proves to me how savvy Apple is about this stuff. They will have effectively removed the carrier, something that no company such as Apple likes to play ball with, from the iPhone in the iPod Touch. Sure you won’t have all of that Edge goodness in the US, but you don’t have AT&T to worry about either. Jobs is so crafty.
Oh he is!
Everyone hailing the new MacBook Air as The New Thing has it all wrong. It’s just a lighter notebook. Sure, perhaps a secondary computer, but how many people don’t already have that?
I think Cringely is right about how limited that market is:
It is very doubtful that Apple will sell a million Airs in the next year. It is doubtful Apple will sell even half a million Airs and Steve Jobs knows this. What’s important here is not the subnotebook computer but the bits of it that will likely make their way into much more interesting Apple products to come.
I see Apple notebooks all over the place. Apple just sold a ton of them last month as Christmas gifts. I don’t see those people getting rid of a month-old brand-new notebook for the Air.
Cringely especially understands how the chip business works:
Take that specially packaged Intel CPU, how did that come about? Steve Jobs didn’t beat the heck out of Intel CEO Paul Otellini to get a little CPU that would go into fewer than half a million boxes. Steve did what he always does. He beat the heck out of Paul Otellini with the promise that this little CPU — for which we can expect Apple will hold some exclusive for the next six months — will end up in millions and millions of Apple products, nearly all of them costing a lot less than a MacBook Air.
Emphasis added by me.
The thing that Apple has sold in the “millions and millions” is the iPod.
Even people who don’t understand or even like computers have iPods.
Just as “Macintosh” has come to symbolize a certain je nais se quoi, so has the term “iPod.”
Ask the few Zune owners how many times they’ve had people ask where they got “that brown iPod.”
The iPod has established itself in the minds of everyone in these ways:
1) You don’t need to be a geek to use it
2) It’s just about as simple to use as a TV
3) It’s inexpensive enough to buy on an impulse
Apple has slowly been expanding the definition of the iPod from a single-purpose music-player to a device that can display a calendar, show photos, play games, and now view video.
At the top of this iPod continuum sits the iPhone.
As we’ve seen with the introduction of the iPod Touch, the iPhone really is a next-generation iPod with an embedded cellphone. With all the publicity the iPhone has received, with all the sales it has had (and still does; I was in an Apple Store Monday and people were buying iPhones!), Jobs is making headway in stretching the definition of what “iPod” means.
Jobs made the bold move of leapfrogging his established iPod models for the iPhone and then adding a phoneless iPhone to the iPod lineup. A two-prong approach that redefined the scope of what “iPod” means and what an iPod can do.
What is missing in Apple’s product lineup is exactly what the rumor mill has stated a few months ago: a tablet computer.
And I think that tablet computer will be called the iPod Air.
Apple has already established the “Air” moniker as connoting lightness, svelteness, and portability.
A tablet computer called the iPod Air would ride on those marketing coattails very easily. And it would further broaden the idea of what the iPod is by linking the idea of “iPod” (easy, un-geeky) with the idea of “Air” (a sexy computer).
I’ve got a idea for a TV ad that would nail the iPod Air in everyone’s mind:
FADE IN: That now-famous manila envelope on surface
NARRATION: In January, Apple unveiled the lightest computer ever …
MacBook Air being pulled out of envelope
NARRATION: … the MacBook Air.
MacBook Air being opened
NARRATION: And now we’re doing it again.
iPOD AIR pulled from INSIDE the MacBook Air
NARRATION: Meet the new iPod Air. A computer as easy to use an as iPod. And as light as Air.
OK, maybe it’s not the best way to do it, because I can see eejits wondering if you need to buy a MacBook Air to use the iPod Air (just as everyone thought they needed to buy a Treo to get any use out of the Foleo!). I still put that example here because I believe mostly non-eejits will be reading this post. Apple’s marketing department and ad agency will come up with the defining image. A smaller envelope, maybe? A fanny pack? A Daytimer?
Nevertheless, I believe that the Air designation will not be limited to the new MacBook. I firmly believe that an iPod Air is coming and that it will be the rumored tablet computer from Apple.
Just wait and see what applications start appearing when Apple releases the iPhone/iPod Touch SDK. Especially wait to see what new iPhone/iPod Touch applications come from Apple at that time.
I still expect two things to happen:
1) iSync being revised
2) A portable Bluetooth keyboard
People will want an iTunes-simple way of getting stuff into an iPod Air and also have the peace of mind of not losing important stuff.
People like me will scream (have been screaming!) for a Bluetooth keyboard because an on-screen keyboard for anything more than SMS/texting is not fun.
If either of those two things happen, Apple will have further revealed its hand. Just as their number cruncher, Oppenheimer, surprisingly did in that earnings call.
Explore posts in the same categories: Tech - Apple, Tech - Palm
This entry was posted on January 23, 2008 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Tech - Apple, Tech - Palm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.
8 Comments on “Is Apple’s Tablet The iPod Air?”
Talk Me Out of This…MacBook Air Edition at Gear Diary Says:
January 23, 2008 at 8:48 pm
[…] course Mike has has own take on everything: he opines that the MacBook Air is the first in a line of possible thin and light Air-branded devices. Could […]
James Moat Says:
January 23, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Geez, Cane I know this isn’t a tech blog but you really have an interesting take on the electronic world (and yes, I do enjoy reading it). You might be on to something or you might be on something….
Now Children, Can’t We All Just Get Along? | Just Another iPhone Blog Says:
January 24, 2008 at 1:55 am
[…] So now the question is this– was this a pleasant surprise to Apple or was this part of the grand plan all along? Are the iPhone/iPod Touch and the new MacBook Air only transitional devices toward Apple “Next Big Thing”? Is the stage now set for a truly “Mainstream Wi-Fi Mobile” device? Mike Cane makes a pretty compelling argument HERE. […]
John Blackburn Says:
January 24, 2008 at 3:09 am
I would be quite surprised if Apple ever uses the words “iPod” and “computer” in the same ad. The iPod is not a computer in people’s minds–a point you make above–so why would Apple make that connection?
lifedrivedoc Says:
January 24, 2008 at 3:40 am
Mike,
You’ve got this spot on! I believe that the iPod Air or something of that magnitude is only a few months away. I held out on purchasing a new Palm TX because I can see the writing on the wall. The OSX portable implementation is going to lead the way. As I suspected last January, the Mac Touch system will probably revolve around Widgets that can be easily installed and run from a non-root directory, hence decreasing the chance for viruses.
Once the SDK is released and this “touch” system comes to fruition, I am afraid that it may be lights out for a number of companies, including our favorite. I recently had a word with Dataviz to ask if they plan to port smartlistogo to another platform. I received an email this morning asking me to talk to one of the technical advisors about the possibility of porting this to the iphone. I also received a message from the Epocrates group on the blog stating that they have already made their program compatible with OSx on the iPhone.
The wheels are turning and you have hit this one right on the head. I totally agree with your comments.
LDD.
Art Kavanagh Says:
January 24, 2008 at 4:41 am
“2) A portable Bluetooth keyboard”
Yeah. The absence of Bluetooth was the main reason I had misgivings about buying the iPod touch rather than the iPhone. I went ahead with the touch anyway, reasoning that, even with Bluetooth, the iPhone didn’t have the necessary keyboard drivers etc and they might never materialize.
The touch is wonderful but it would be nice to be able to connect a hardware keyboard.
Your prediction of an iPod Air makes perfect sense to me — but I’m not sure that Real Steve sees things the same way.
mikecane Says:
January 24, 2008 at 3:08 pm
>>>I would be quite surprised if Apple ever uses the words “iPod” and “computer” in the same ad.
Yes, you’re absolutely right about that. Apple even dropped the term from their corporate name! I’ll leave details such as that to their wizards of marketing.
mikecane Says:
January 24, 2008 at 3:10 pm
>>>The absence of Bluetooth was the main reason I had misgivings about buying the iPod touch rather than the iPhone.
Yeah, the lack of BT on the Touch is puzzling. But Jobs did say the iPhone was meant as a productivity tool. So there *must* be a BT keyboard at some point. Perhaps not til the “iPod Air” or whatever. Or the release of the SDK. Maybe Apple won’t even do it. Maybe the BT stack will have to be hacked to allow 3rd-party KBs. That would be nasty, though.
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/is-apples-tablet-the-ipod-air/
« Math Was Created To Humble UsMorrissey: You Have Killed Me »Is Apple’s Tablet The iPod Air?
Can the Touch Revive Apple’s iPod Sales?
“We view the iPod market as bigger than the market for simple music players,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer. “We believe one of the iPod’s future directions is to become the first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform.”
Do any of you understand the boldness of that statement? And what was just tipped?
James Kendrick at JK on the Run noticed something even before the above was published:
Having an iPod Touch with largely the same functionality of the iPhone proves to me how savvy Apple is about this stuff. They will have effectively removed the carrier, something that no company such as Apple likes to play ball with, from the iPhone in the iPod Touch. Sure you won’t have all of that Edge goodness in the US, but you don’t have AT&T to worry about either. Jobs is so crafty.
Oh he is!
Everyone hailing the new MacBook Air as The New Thing has it all wrong. It’s just a lighter notebook. Sure, perhaps a secondary computer, but how many people don’t already have that?
I think Cringely is right about how limited that market is:
It is very doubtful that Apple will sell a million Airs in the next year. It is doubtful Apple will sell even half a million Airs and Steve Jobs knows this. What’s important here is not the subnotebook computer but the bits of it that will likely make their way into much more interesting Apple products to come.
I see Apple notebooks all over the place. Apple just sold a ton of them last month as Christmas gifts. I don’t see those people getting rid of a month-old brand-new notebook for the Air.
Cringely especially understands how the chip business works:
Take that specially packaged Intel CPU, how did that come about? Steve Jobs didn’t beat the heck out of Intel CEO Paul Otellini to get a little CPU that would go into fewer than half a million boxes. Steve did what he always does. He beat the heck out of Paul Otellini with the promise that this little CPU — for which we can expect Apple will hold some exclusive for the next six months — will end up in millions and millions of Apple products, nearly all of them costing a lot less than a MacBook Air.
Emphasis added by me.
The thing that Apple has sold in the “millions and millions” is the iPod.
Even people who don’t understand or even like computers have iPods.
Just as “Macintosh” has come to symbolize a certain je nais se quoi, so has the term “iPod.”
Ask the few Zune owners how many times they’ve had people ask where they got “that brown iPod.”
The iPod has established itself in the minds of everyone in these ways:
1) You don’t need to be a geek to use it
2) It’s just about as simple to use as a TV
3) It’s inexpensive enough to buy on an impulse
Apple has slowly been expanding the definition of the iPod from a single-purpose music-player to a device that can display a calendar, show photos, play games, and now view video.
At the top of this iPod continuum sits the iPhone.
As we’ve seen with the introduction of the iPod Touch, the iPhone really is a next-generation iPod with an embedded cellphone. With all the publicity the iPhone has received, with all the sales it has had (and still does; I was in an Apple Store Monday and people were buying iPhones!), Jobs is making headway in stretching the definition of what “iPod” means.
Jobs made the bold move of leapfrogging his established iPod models for the iPhone and then adding a phoneless iPhone to the iPod lineup. A two-prong approach that redefined the scope of what “iPod” means and what an iPod can do.
What is missing in Apple’s product lineup is exactly what the rumor mill has stated a few months ago: a tablet computer.
And I think that tablet computer will be called the iPod Air.
Apple has already established the “Air” moniker as connoting lightness, svelteness, and portability.
A tablet computer called the iPod Air would ride on those marketing coattails very easily. And it would further broaden the idea of what the iPod is by linking the idea of “iPod” (easy, un-geeky) with the idea of “Air” (a sexy computer).
I’ve got a idea for a TV ad that would nail the iPod Air in everyone’s mind:
FADE IN: That now-famous manila envelope on surface
NARRATION: In January, Apple unveiled the lightest computer ever …
MacBook Air being pulled out of envelope
NARRATION: … the MacBook Air.
MacBook Air being opened
NARRATION: And now we’re doing it again.
iPOD AIR pulled from INSIDE the MacBook Air
NARRATION: Meet the new iPod Air. A computer as easy to use an as iPod. And as light as Air.
OK, maybe it’s not the best way to do it, because I can see eejits wondering if you need to buy a MacBook Air to use the iPod Air (just as everyone thought they needed to buy a Treo to get any use out of the Foleo!). I still put that example here because I believe mostly non-eejits will be reading this post. Apple’s marketing department and ad agency will come up with the defining image. A smaller envelope, maybe? A fanny pack? A Daytimer?
Nevertheless, I believe that the Air designation will not be limited to the new MacBook. I firmly believe that an iPod Air is coming and that it will be the rumored tablet computer from Apple.
Just wait and see what applications start appearing when Apple releases the iPhone/iPod Touch SDK. Especially wait to see what new iPhone/iPod Touch applications come from Apple at that time.
I still expect two things to happen:
1) iSync being revised
2) A portable Bluetooth keyboard
People will want an iTunes-simple way of getting stuff into an iPod Air and also have the peace of mind of not losing important stuff.
People like me will scream (have been screaming!) for a Bluetooth keyboard because an on-screen keyboard for anything more than SMS/texting is not fun.
If either of those two things happen, Apple will have further revealed its hand. Just as their number cruncher, Oppenheimer, surprisingly did in that earnings call.
Explore posts in the same categories: Tech - Apple, Tech - Palm
This entry was posted on January 23, 2008 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Tech - Apple, Tech - Palm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.
8 Comments on “Is Apple’s Tablet The iPod Air?”
Talk Me Out of This…MacBook Air Edition at Gear Diary Says:
January 23, 2008 at 8:48 pm
[…] course Mike has has own take on everything: he opines that the MacBook Air is the first in a line of possible thin and light Air-branded devices. Could […]
James Moat Says:
January 23, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Geez, Cane I know this isn’t a tech blog but you really have an interesting take on the electronic world (and yes, I do enjoy reading it). You might be on to something or you might be on something….
Now Children, Can’t We All Just Get Along? | Just Another iPhone Blog Says:
January 24, 2008 at 1:55 am
[…] So now the question is this– was this a pleasant surprise to Apple or was this part of the grand plan all along? Are the iPhone/iPod Touch and the new MacBook Air only transitional devices toward Apple “Next Big Thing”? Is the stage now set for a truly “Mainstream Wi-Fi Mobile” device? Mike Cane makes a pretty compelling argument HERE. […]
John Blackburn Says:
January 24, 2008 at 3:09 am
I would be quite surprised if Apple ever uses the words “iPod” and “computer” in the same ad. The iPod is not a computer in people’s minds–a point you make above–so why would Apple make that connection?
lifedrivedoc Says:
January 24, 2008 at 3:40 am
Mike,
You’ve got this spot on! I believe that the iPod Air or something of that magnitude is only a few months away. I held out on purchasing a new Palm TX because I can see the writing on the wall. The OSX portable implementation is going to lead the way. As I suspected last January, the Mac Touch system will probably revolve around Widgets that can be easily installed and run from a non-root directory, hence decreasing the chance for viruses.
Once the SDK is released and this “touch” system comes to fruition, I am afraid that it may be lights out for a number of companies, including our favorite. I recently had a word with Dataviz to ask if they plan to port smartlistogo to another platform. I received an email this morning asking me to talk to one of the technical advisors about the possibility of porting this to the iphone. I also received a message from the Epocrates group on the blog stating that they have already made their program compatible with OSx on the iPhone.
The wheels are turning and you have hit this one right on the head. I totally agree with your comments.
LDD.
Art Kavanagh Says:
January 24, 2008 at 4:41 am
“2) A portable Bluetooth keyboard”
Yeah. The absence of Bluetooth was the main reason I had misgivings about buying the iPod touch rather than the iPhone. I went ahead with the touch anyway, reasoning that, even with Bluetooth, the iPhone didn’t have the necessary keyboard drivers etc and they might never materialize.
The touch is wonderful but it would be nice to be able to connect a hardware keyboard.
Your prediction of an iPod Air makes perfect sense to me — but I’m not sure that Real Steve sees things the same way.
mikecane Says:
January 24, 2008 at 3:08 pm
>>>I would be quite surprised if Apple ever uses the words “iPod” and “computer” in the same ad.
Yes, you’re absolutely right about that. Apple even dropped the term from their corporate name! I’ll leave details such as that to their wizards of marketing.
mikecane Says:
January 24, 2008 at 3:10 pm
>>>The absence of Bluetooth was the main reason I had misgivings about buying the iPod touch rather than the iPhone.
Yeah, the lack of BT on the Touch is puzzling. But Jobs did say the iPhone was meant as a productivity tool. So there *must* be a BT keyboard at some point. Perhaps not til the “iPod Air” or whatever. Or the release of the SDK. Maybe Apple won’t even do it. Maybe the BT stack will have to be hacked to allow 3rd-party KBs. That would be nasty, though.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
ipodair.com coming soon!
Who has info on this new ipod. will it be better than the previous ipods and how much will it be...
I have seen the website.. www.ipodair.com looks like it will come out maybe next later this year.
I have seen the website.. www.ipodair.com looks like it will come out maybe next later this year.
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