Apple’s New MacBook Air – PC, Tablet or ?

I actually happen to be a big fan of Apple products.  So when I read about yesterday’s new MacBook Air, I initially had a mixed reaction.

On the one hand, the MacBook Air is another incredible engineering feat – diverging from the norm (as Apple is known to do) in order to create one very nice, incredibly thin industrial design.  Apple announced both 11″ and 13″ versions, both only 0.68″ high at its thickest point.  Weight is a mere 2.3lb for the 11″ and 2.9lb for the 13″.

I’ve never been a fan of Netbooks as I never understood who would pay those prices for something with meager processing power.  Apple has chosen to include a decent Core 2 Duo processor in it’s latest PC, so they have enough processing power to do the normal applications that one would want to run, unlike netbooks.  This, combined with the NVidia GeForce 320M graphics chip with 256MB graphics memory, and the processing power is reasonable for this level of computer.

OK – now for the interesting part.  Where Apple diverged from the norms is by embedding a solid-state flash “drive” on the mother board rather than using one that is in the legacy form factor of a traditional hard drive.  This is not rocket science, but I believe Apple is the first to do this and challenge the conventional wisdom.  By doing this, they freed up considerable space to allow room for more battery area (and ultimately allowing the sleek form factor of the PC).  The downside of this as I see it, is that you cannot replace the built-in flash drive in this design as it is soldered onto the motherboard.  Other PCs that use solid state drives use the traditional hard disk form factor so if you run out of “disk” space, you can upgrade to a larger SSD that fits in the same space.  Not possible with the new MacBook Air.  However, if you do need more space, you can always buy an external drive to hook up via USB (though the Air only has two USB ports).  In addition, if you want to travel with the Air and you need to resort to an external drive eventually, you then have to cart around the external drive.  The built-in SSD on the Air can be purchased up to 128GB on the 11″ model and 256GB on the 13″ model, so it is quite possible that you will run out of disk space over time.

Battery: The other interesting design choice is that Apple is using a built-in lithium-polymer battery, rather than a unit that can be detached and replaced.  The battery technology is quite nice and, combined with the system’s power management features, allows for up to 5~7 hours of continual use or up to 30 days of standby!  Very nice.  You can continually keep your PC booted up and just put it in standby and up to 30 days later, open up the PC and you’re already booted!  Once the battery eventually weakens (as all batteries do after many power cycles), the battery can eventually be replaced by Apple.  I don’t have a big problem with this.  The one area I do have a problem with the battery is for long flights.  As a business man, I work on long overseas flights, and a 5 hour to 7 hour battery life is not sufficient.  With my other PC, I just bring a spare battery, but this is not an option with the Air.  Granted, I represent a small part of the population that needs continual use of their PC for over 7 hours without a power connection.  So for some international business travelers, the Air is probably not for them.

The interesting part of what Apple is doing is essentially creating new sub-market segments in the computing appliance-tablet-netbook-PC spectrum.  We saw the success with the iPad, essentially creating a new market segment.  The Air, I would argue, does something similar.  Yes it’s a PC, but not exactly like your traditional laptop.  It’s instant on capability, very fast SSD drive, and long life built-in battery make this a very attractive machine, though it’s lack of ability to swap a drive or battery will limit it’s usefulness for some business users.  But I really believe Apple is not necessarily going after the traditional road warrior business user with this device.  Rather, they’re blurring the lines between the iPad and the MacBook/MacBook Pro lines of PCs – inserting one more interesting and sleek contender that will be a perfect blend of form, fit and function for a sub-segment of the market.  Time will tell if Apple’s strategy works, but I’m a believer and think that ultimately consumers will be the ones to benefit from these new classes of wirelessly-enabled appliances.

To learn more about the author, please visit: http://paulkaplan.net

CES 2011: A Plethora of Tablet Computers

As Apple launched it’s wildly successful iPad in January this year, you can expect Apple’s competitors to be frantically trying to develop their own tablet computers to take advantage of this new burgeoning market.  As such, expect to see tablet computers as one of the key themes of January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

According to DigiTimes, Google is nearing completion of Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) and that Android 3.5 (Honeycomb) will be released in the first quarter of 2011.  It appears that Smart Phone brands such as Samsung, Motorola and RIM are aggressively launching tablet products to try to compete with Apple – expect them to display their tablets at CES.  1st tier PC makers are less aggressive, however, possibly not launching their tablets until 2Q 2011.

However, Taiwanese PC vendors such as Acer, Micro-Star and Asustek will likely unveil their Android-based tablet PCs at CES.

Wireless Portable Electronic Devices Set for Major Growth

The advent of 3G and 4G wireless technologies, which enable high data rates (3G HSDPA ~14 Mbps theoretical, 4G >100Mbps), is ushering in a new era for Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs).  This is the trend that will provide significant economic growth for several years to come, just as PCs and the internet fueled economic growth in the 80’s and 90’s.

Surfing the internet via a tethered PC will no longer suffice.  At these data rates, consumers and business people want instant access to information on the go via wireless technology.

Instat (www.in-stat.com), a market research company, recently forecasted that the number of PEDs with embedded 3G/4G radios will reach 100M units next year, and that there will be significant growth across all categories of PEDs over the next 5 years.  WCDMA will be the dominant wireless technology across the majority of shipments.  Instat predicts that e-readers will be one of the key growth drivers in 3G/4G-enabled PEDs with units shipments expected to grow significantly over the next several years.

Expect to see an ever-growing wireless enabled world, from streaming wireless video within the house, to uploading photos and videos to the web.  Many more wireless applications and appliances will appear as 3G and 4G technology gains a foot-hold.

Learn more about the author at: http://paulkaplan.net

Smart Phone Wars Heating Up

With Microsoft’s launch this week of the Windows Phone 7 operating system, the market is definitely heating up.  However, as mentioned in a previous post, iSupply forecasted that global smart phone shipments are expected to increase 105% to 506 million units in 2014 from 246.9 million expected in 2010.  So there is potentially room for several key players.

Here’s the way I see the Smart Phone market shaping up, and what each key vendor should be focusing on.

Apple: Clearly, Apple is the innovator.  Apple’s distinctive competence is in designing products in ways that are massively attractive to end users, easy to use and are leading edge in design and function.  Apple’s strategy must be to continue to lead the pack in this fashion while considering the whole product – not just the hardware, but overall environment including retail outlet experience, software, on-line store, service, etc.  For this, they will continue to be able to charge a premium for their products. Apple should also continue to expand into related markets, working to make them interoperable with their current product line – next battle ground: home multi-media hub, where Apple TV plays.

Google: In my view, Android’s strength is in its open source nature.  Google should continue to exploit the fact that they are open source and use this to their advantage.  They can leverage multiple handset vendors to produce a plethora of Android-based handset options on the market across many carriers.  They can also work to attract more independent software creators to make the Android platform even more interesting and customizable.  They should also continue to tie their OS to Googles on-line apps – the more Google can move the mobile market segment toward it’s applications, the more they will benefit.

Microsoft: Microsoft took a major step forward with its release of Windows Phone 7.  Like Google, Microsoft will be able to leverage multiple handset vendors and carriers to provide a range of choices to Windows Phone 7 customers.  Microsoft should continue to focus on their tie to existing MS applications & Products that they’ve worked tirelessly to develop and defend: MS Office, X-Box 360 and Zune.

RIM (maker of Blackberry): The Blackberry has been around for quite some time, targeting the smart connected business user.  I would not count out RIM.  They recently announced their new Blackberry Torch, which is quite impressive in itself.  In addition, in September, they announced their answer to the iPad – the Blackberry PlayBook, targeting enterprise users but also appropriate for individual consumers.  In my view, Blackberry’s biggest competitor will be Windows Phone 7, as this OS will attract enterprise customers.  RIM will face stiff competition as the other competitors have rich tie-ins to their other products.  Therefore, RIM’s best approach is to develop a long list of partners to enhance the Blackberry experience for their users.

Others benefiting from the Smart Phone market heating up:

ARM Holdings: ARM’s processor cores are at the heart of practically all cell phones.  Though they don’t manufacture chips like Intel does for the PC market, they provide the processor core Intellectual Property to various semiconductor vendors, who make their chips around ARM IP.

Qualcomm: I hold a lot of admiration for Qualcomm, which pretty much invented the CDMA wireless standard.  They have made some very intelligent business decisions over the years, and they are still in a leading position for cell phone chip sets.  I expect Qualcomm will remain a dominant player in the smart phone market for several years.

And the biggest beneficiary of this increased activity in the smart phone industry?  You, the consumer.  Enjoy your new found untethered freedom!

Learn more about this author at: http://paulkaplan.net

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Launched Yesterday

Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s new mobile phone OS, launched yesterday and initial indications are that it will be a hit.  Microsoft desperately needed a successful launch as their past attempts at Mobile OS’s have been less than stellar.

From what I gather in the news and reviews, key merits of Windows Phone 7 are:

• Low latency for touch input and scrolling on par with that of the iPhone (likely due to efficient coding and fast apps processors in the handsets)
• Nice soft input keyboard
• Very well thought out and integrated platform (one of the criticism’s of Google’s Android is that it feels like many different people designed the various aspects of Android)
• Nice integration with Xbox Live for gaming
• Nice integration with Microsoft Office Mobile apps
• Carry over of the Zune user interface for Multi-Media – consistency across Microsoft platforms
• Microsoft claims that their organization of the OS around 6 hubs: People, Pictures, Office, Music, Video and Games, allows for a quicker and more integrated user experience because users don’t need to go in and out of apps to perform a single task, like posting a picture on Facebook.
• Impressive announcement of 9 phone models shipping this holiday season from 4 device partners (HTC, Dell, Samsung, LG) on 60 mobile operators in 30 countries.

Things are certainly heating up in the Smart Phone market.  With iSupply having forecasted that global smart phone shipments are expected to increase 105% to 506 million units in 2014 from 246.9 million expected in 2010, the growth potential for vendors is large.

This all spells opportunity for consumers, who will have many choices as they exchange their old feature phones for new Smart Phones…

Learn more about the author at: http://www.paulkaplan.net

So What Business is Apple in Anyway???

If you asked in 2001  ‘what business is Apple in?’, the answer would be easy: Computers.  Fast forward to 2010 and now ask the question – not so easy any more.  The easy answers might be “consumer electronics” or computers.  But clearly Apple is no longer a computer company – they made sure to drop the “Computer” from the Apple Computer name in January 2007.  And if they are just a consumer electronics company, would they be in business with iTunes, movie and TV deals, and software?  So what is Apple’s business???

It’s key to understand what space your company plays in as it can have a profound impact on the market and product boundaries to which you adhere.  I would also argue that the type of company you are and the type of business you play in is somewhat dictated by your distinctive advantage.  Do you see where I’m headed?

In my mind, Apple is in the business of DESIGN.  No one designs products like Apple.  (For some detail on Apple’s history with Industrial design, see my separate post entitled: “Apple’s Industrial Design History”).

Apple products have distinct characteristics:

1) They are “cool” – due to Apple’s long history with refining Industrial Design (not to mention Steve Jobs’ personal attention to Industrial Design);
2) They often don’t use new technology, but they combine the existing technologies in ways that have not successfully been done by any other company before – what some in the industry know as ‘convergence’;
3) They are easy to use and very intuitive;
4) They are designed to interact with other Apple products and services in a very simple and understandable manner.

In fact, Apple is so successful with design that everyone tries to copy Apple’s product designs.

As long as Apple continues to focus on design and ease of use, they will always be a leader in cool gadgets, cool computers and outstanding on-line stores (iTunes).  The question is, will they take their design prowess to other markets as well?  They already branched out from computers to portable music players, media centers, cell phones and on-line stores.  Time will tell what they will expand into next.  What do you think?

Apple’s Industrial Design History

(View  the original Wikipedia article)

Apple industrial design was established in 1977 when Steve Jobs hired Jerry Manock to design the Apple II case. Jobs was notoriously obsessed with design and style and together with Manock set about establishing the design language that would be used by Apple for the next 10 years.

In addition to the Apple II, Manock came to manage Apple Design Guild which consisted of a loose band of in-house designers.  It was from this group that a project called “Snow White” emerged. The importance that Jobs put on appearance led to a desire to begin the search for a “world-class” designer to give Apple a uniform design language. It was Manock’s suggestion that it be made a contest and proceeded to solicit designers from the pages of magazines.

Frog Design

It was out of this contest that Hartmut Esslinger came to Apple and created a unique design language which took the project’s code-name and helped establish Apple with a serious corporate image. Though Esslinger originally created a design for the Macintosh, it wasn’t until the Apple IIc that Apple would first introduce the new design language.

The original Macintosh was designed by Jerry Manock and Terry Oyama with ample guidance from Steve Jobs. In doing so, they created an enduring iconic design which continues to comprise the basic Macintosh design elements to this day.  Despite its various redressing in “Snow White” details, all the way to the translucent iMac, there is no mistaking the legacy imparted by the original Macintosh design. Sadly, Manock having worked 90-hour weeks and along with the rest of the Mac team was exhausted and he failed to register the Macintoshes in time for the design award consideration. Esslinger would not make the same mistake with the SE and ultimately received the recognition denied Manock, which often led to Esslinger being credited with the original design of the Macintosh, a perception Esslinger and Frog Design rarely corrected. However, by the end of 1985, Steve Jobs would resign from Apple and Hartmut Esslinger and his Frog Design team would not be far behind, along with their expensive fee.

Reformation

By the early 1990s, Apple discovered that the Snow White language that had served them so well through the 80s was being copied by its generic IBM PC competitors, causing Apple to lose some of its unique identity. With the move away from frog design, Apple chose to bring all industrial design in-house by creating the Apple Industrial Design Group, headed by Robert Brunner except portable computer devices design projects led by Kazuo Kawasaki. Though many of the new designs reflected the legacy of Esslinger’s Snow White language, the new design group began to rapidly move toward its own direction, which can be clearly seen in landmark products such as the Macintosh Color Classic. The list of innovative designs which clearly defined Apple products in the marketplace continued through the 90s.

Jobs’ Return

Steve Jobs’ return in 1997 ushered in a new era for Apple design, drawing on the curvy style developed over the preceding 7 years and infusing it with vibrant color and translucent details. The launch of the iMac in 1998 also drew on some of the iconic elements of the original Macintosh, such as the all-in-one format and top-mounted handle.

The current design language adopted by Apple can be split into two aspects: a white or black color scheme, usually with a glossy texture and plastic cases; and a brushed aluminum and glass look. The former is exclusively used for consumer products, such as the MacBook and iPod, while the latter is mainly used in professional products such as the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro. However, the most recent revisions of the iMac, iPad, and iPod lines have adopted the aluminum of the professional line with sleek black elements. Apple went so far as to develop a unibody water-milling process in order to achieve sharp lines and graceful curves as well as end-to-end structural stability from their aluminum products. Both looks often use basic rectilinear forms modified with slight contours and rounded edges.