Forbes: The stakes are high as Apple shines spotlight on new MacBooks
Saturday, October 11, 2008 - 09:16 AM EST "Apple is expected to announce its latest gear," Brian Caulfield reports for Forbes. "With the world economy in crisis--and even Dell reportedly thinking of selling off its factories--bloggers are keyed up for some astonishing news from Apple. There has been feverish speculation, for instance, that Apple has built a secret U.S. wunderfactory that will use robots equipped with lasers and water jets to carve notebook computers out of blocks of aluminum."Caulfield reports, "Jobs may not be building a battalion of robots, but he does have marketing news up his sleeve. Apple informed the press on Thursday that they are to gather next week at its Cupertino, Calif., campus for an announcement--presumably about its new laptops. On Friday, Apple led a tech stock rebound by the day's end, as Apple shares surged 9% to $96.80 from $88.74. (Nasdaq finished almost flat after an earlier tumble.)"
"The stakes are high," Caulfield writes. "While Apple's iPhone grabs headlines, Apple's PC business is chugging away, thanks in large part to its notebook computers. Apple grabbed 10.6% of the North American market for laptop computers in the second quarter, up from 6.6% during the year-ago period, according to a report release last month by tech tracker DisplaySearch."
Caulfield reports, " In a note to investors Friday, Piper Jaffray (nyse: PJC - news - people ) analyst Gene Munster said he expects Apple will add a number of premium features to its low-end notebooks. On his list is an aluminum case like the one used on the more expensive MacBook Pro and a fat touch pad, which can work with Apple's multi-touch gesture-based input system. But the most powerful appeal will likely be price. Munster expects that Apple will drop the price of its MacBook laptops to between $899 and $999 from the current $1099."
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "JES42" for the heads up.]


MacBook bitch!