What’s next for Apple? From the fanciful to obvious…
One of the really great things about the fairer platform is how many really talented artists, especially ones interested in the hardware for art’s sake, are attracted to the Mac. The flip side of this is, of course, we all pay so much attention to these guys because Apple gives us so little to sink our teeth into between press releases.
Although the Web is awash in photos and renderings of the next generation iPhone, to this pundit’s eye, the slickest concept and rendering out there has to be Benjamin Harvey and his TouchPad + Mac mini, renderings of which he has posted to Deviant Art—a destination in and of itself.
Why the TouchPad?
“instead of creating a full-fledged touch-capable Mac, I devised a touch input device that would be wirelessly paired to any Mac on your local network … like a giant iPod touch, the TouchPad supports multi-touch, an on-screen keyboard, and some streamlined OSX interface adjustments optimized for media, document processing, web browsing, and instant messaging,” Harvey said.
For me, anyway, the reason Harvey’s concept is so cool is because it pulls together two unfinished thoughts in Apple’s current product line—an old in the tooth Mac mini and the obvious budding interface paradigm that is OS X + multitouch technology.
Tim says…
With the TouchPad as a teaser, we move on to this Rocky Mountain News write up covering Sanford C Bernstein & Co analyst Toni Sacconaghi’s recent sit down with Apple’s Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who’s minding the store while CEO Steve Jobs takes a medical leave of absence. Yes, of course, there are “very exciting” plans for the iPhone this year, as well as a few hints in other directions. Sacconahi said:
Tim Cook stated that since Steve Jobs announced his leave of absence, he was spending more time on new products, how Apple could take the iPhone into new markets and examining iPhone’s business model. Several interesting tidbits point to new iPhones, potentially with different pricing / price points this year.
In terms of specifics, the Bernstein & Co analyst believes the long-awaited new iMac will finally arrive in March. Regarding netbooks and a revised Apple TV, Cook purportedly demurred while making it obvious that neither would be arriving any soon, reiterating Jobs earlier cryptic teaser that the company has ‘interesting ideas’ on how to make small, cheap portables.
After several years of iPhone mania, I’m really, really interested to see what the newer, better, faster and more beautiful iMac and Mac mini are going to look like. Aren’t you?
What’s your take?
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February 17th, 2009
mmmm interesting
February 17th, 2009
I’ll give Apple credit for the Ipod, Iphone and touch but as for Mac, mini and other computer they are crap not worth what they charge.
Mostly because the OS sucks.
February 17th, 2009
I think the form factor for the MacBook Air is a little off the mark at the wrong time. I know some people that recently went Mac and are begging for a 7 or 9 inch screen and the MacBook Air is the perfect concept for this. Apple, just reduce the size factor and I guarantee you will have a successful product that will save the floundering MacBook air line.