Things to Come: MacBook Touch

“We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone 3G, and we’re busy finishing several more wonderful new products to launch in the coming months.” Steve Jobs, July 21, 2008

This comment made by Apple CEO Steve Jobs seems to presage the rumour that hit the net yesterday that Apple is in fact hard at work on a MacBook Touch and that it will arrive in just three months. So who’s the source? Well, the rumour was reported by MacDailyNews as relayed to them by their insider. How much stock should be put in this insider? Well, the very same source broke the news of the wireless iTunes store a week before Apple’s official public announcement. Whether that buys enough credibility to ground a ‘MacBook Touch’ rumour remains to be seen. Nevertheless the insider had this to say: “Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion's haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS.”

Certainly the largest hurdle in mass-marketing a touch-capable notebook is the price, something the insider addressed: “Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at “low” price that will reduce margins. Apple wants to move these babies. And move they will. This is some sick shit. App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too. By October at the latest.”

A MacBook Touch seems like a logical step in Apple’s plan to branch out from niche market to a full-fledged trend setter, as they have been with the iPhone (like it or not, the iPhone has been the subject of much emulation and imitation by most major cell phone manufacturers). If Apple can make the “low” cost truly reasonable at launch then they just might have another winner on their hands, as all their marketing and products todate have been preparing us for a touch-screen notebook. Just be wary early adopters, as 1st gen iPhone owners can attest to; once bitten, twice shy. And like it or not this Apple bites.

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