Apple on Thursday sent out press invitations with the tease, "The spotlight turns to notebooks" — and all signs are pointing toward the launch of a sub-$1,000 Mac notebook.
The invitation says the event will be held at the Apple headquarters Town Hall building at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said he was confident that Apple would be releasing a sub-$1,000 notebook. He pointed out that in Apple’s last quarterly earnings call, the company hinted at a "product transition" that would allow Apple to deliver "state-of-the-art new products that our competitors aren’t going to be
able to match." Munster said this translates to Apple releasing a product that’s significantly lower priced than the
existing ones in order to hit its gross margin guidance.
"We feel good they’re going to have a sub-$1,000 notebook," Munster said. "It’s just been two and a half years since these [Mac notebooks] have been redesigned, so it’s been long overdue."
To further back Munster’s theory, AppleInsider claims that informed sources confirmed that a leaked photo (below) purported to be the next-generation Mac notebook is the real deal.
Vijay Rakesh, a ThinkPanmure analyst, agreed it was likely that
Apple would release a sub-$1,000 notebook. He said he believes this
device will be Apple’s netbook. Netbooks, which are low-priced, pared
down laptops streamlined for internet usage, have been soaring in popularity, but Apple has yet to step into this new market.
Rakesh and Munster said it’s likely Apple will release a touchscreen notebook — the fabled "Brick" that many on the internet have squabbled about.
"It is definitely a new entry into a lower price segment," Rakesh said. "It
will probably impact their profitability, and they have expected some
lower price point products to come…. I think they are being
reactive to the lower-end netbook phenomenon, so we’ll have to see how
differentiated and how attractive the new product is."
RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky added his speculation on what the
"Brick" and the rest of the notebook line would look like. For the
rumored sub-$1,000 "Brick," Abramsky believes this device will include
an optical drive and ethernet connectivity — features missing from
Apple’s MacBook Air subnotebook.
As for the entire notebook line overall, he said we can expect thinner
laptops overall along with new packaging based on Apple’s rumored new manufacturing
process that involves carving a notebook out of a brick of metal.
See also:
- Photos: Is This the MacBook ‘Brick’?
- Rumor Says That Apple Brick Will Be A Metal Brick
- Apple’s Brick: A Dual-Screen, Foldable Netbook?
Photo: AppleInsider, Apple.pro
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by admin on October 9, 2008
