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I hope that it is. Would be very kool...

Jul 22, 08 - 10:46 am Comment from: cheese

wow. can it fry?

I object to the phrase, "This is some sick shit." He could have said, "This is some ill poopy."

I need these for my office.

Tissue please.

I can't afford one right now, but wow if it is true.

How can iphone apps fit visually on a MacBook Touch? You would think the UI and layout would need to be redone.

How about a iGirl Touch?

No bikini whales need apply.

Thank you, I'll be here all week...

Jul 22, 08 - 10:51 am Comment from: Lurker_PC

@ cheese - will it blend?

Peace.

Keep it in laptop form, but smaller, please.

::boner::

Hope I have enough money after the stock crash to buy it.

Jul 22, 08 - 10:55 am Comment from: Macromancer

Is this is it, then I'll be right in line when they get the shipments in.

"This is some sick shit. "

This just gave away that whoever wrote this rumor is 15 yrs old.

Who will be the one presenting it to us after we're finally told that Steve Jobs is bed-ridden and the stock drops 90%?

I can only imagine it's that Scott Forstall guy. He may be a little dry but he's young and vibrant. He's got potential.

Jul 22, 08 - 10:58 am Comment from: Macintosh

It would have to be in a different form factor. The laptop form would give people "gorrila arm" I think it's called, much like Microsoft's demo of Windows 7. Some sort of giant iPhone that can be propped up on one end, that allows a mouse to be connected as well (since it will run Mac applications). There is no way someone could run Illustrator and such without a mouse.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:01 am Comment from: MikeK

Nope. Not it.

A MacBook Touch is not a "KEY product transition," as Opperheimer stated. It would be a completely new product.


Besides, Oppenheimer clearly said that it would affect profit margins in the CURRENT quarter ending September.

Sorry, this isn't it.

What is this replacing though?

Jul 22, 08 - 11:02 am Comment from: dd

If (AAPL>200)
{
dd.sell(AAPL);
dd.buy(newAppleDevice);
dd.retain(balance);
}

This is true. I know someone who knows someone who used to work there and this rumor has been going around for at least 2 years. It will also be spun as a solution for K12 that actually works.

A) I hope he's spot on with the features and low price.
B) I hope it's lighter than a standard Macbook, and uses Air components (smaller boards, lighter batteries, SSD's)
C) I hope it has a user-replaceable battery with that touch screen chewing up battery life. It ain't no iPod.

If Apple wants to convert more people from PCs to Macs, the way to do it would be to make a new laptop that acts like and looks like a larger iPhone. Many enthusiastic iPhone users that are on the PC side will move to it.

Moreover, this is where the real money is to be made for Apple IMHO.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:06 am Comment from: since1985

This is why Snow Leopard is oddly announced with apparently no new features. Apple has all their OS X software engineers working a major new feature that they cannot announce -- full Mac OS X touch gesture capabilities throughout the system -- something they can't announce because it would let the cat out of the bag and because Apple doesn't discuss future products.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:06 am Comment from: John Gee

Um MikeK--a transition is known as moving people from one product to another, right?

The MacBook is to become more book-like.

What the F does this have to do with the presidential election!?!?!

I thought this was a political site!!!

Nevermind....

He serves at the Cupertino Burger King of course.

I go with the idea of the Mac iSlate, 8 or 10", running the full caboodle...

Jul 22, 08 - 11:11 am Comment from: MikeK

@John Gee

No. A transition is technologies in one product changing into something else.. Example: HDD becoming SSD, or fluorescent LED displays becoming OLED displays.

A MacBook touch would not replace a MacBook, it would be a new product.

This rumour is basically true. I told y'all months ago that this product was in the works. (Not that it's a big stretch to speculate such a thing given Apple's obvious direction during the past couple years). But take my word for it. It's actually happening. Check my track record; haven't been wrong yet.

Apple announces new $1999 MacBook Touch today...

...even less features than the MacBook Air, the keyboard and monitor is sold seperately and costs extra. Copy and paste will be included as a built to order option only and delay your purchase for up to two weeks.

yes I'm on a roll. Hogie roll with mayo. yummm

"This is true. I know someone who knows someone who used to work there and this rumor has been going around for at least 2 years."

I worked there for three and a half years, and I can tell you that all new product plans are kept on a strict need-to-know basis. If prototypes for such a device exist, that doesn't mean that it's going to production. Apple develops many more products than they ship.

-jcr

"During his quarterly financial results call, Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer revealed that the company will make a key "product transition" that cuts back on its profit margins to help shut out rivals.

How many "KEY" products does Apple have? Three. The Mac, iPod and iPhone.

I'm with MikeK on this one, it doesn't sound like a "KEY" transition, it sounds like a new product altogether. And no matter how cool something like this could be, there is no way Apple could sell enough of them in it's first quarter to make that big of a dent in it's profit margin.

This is just wishful thinking on someones part.

I will work to develop a list of next gen Mac compatible software when the official news comes down.

MacSoftwareList.com

Jul 22, 08 - 11:17 am Comment from: John Gee

MikeK...

I may be wrong about the MacBook touch being the new MacBook. I can see things changing that way.

But I will say a product transition is different than a technology transition within a product set. And I believe that is what was said at the conference call: "product transition"

Mac Pro Jr., please.
1 optical bay
2-3 HD bays
1 open PCI slot
3GHz quad-core Core 2 Duo
ATI 2600 or better, upgradeable
4 RAM slots

Mac Pro's overkill, iMac's a non-starter.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:18 am Comment from: Not Bill

iPods morf into application platforms. They even make phone calls over the net when connected to wifi or Clearwire.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:21 am Comment from: shen

"So says our source — the same one who tipped us to wireless iTunes Store sales direct to iPod, iPhone a week before Apple debuted it"

just please let him be right, please let it be cheap enough, and please let it come out before i break down and buy a MBA!

Jul 22, 08 - 11:21 am Comment from: Ampar

Slot loading SuperDrive?

That's a step backward. Remote Disc is more likely.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/bonjour.html
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/wireless.html

No way, No how.

if the plan is to have a 30% unit margin at the end of the quarter, they are going to have something like a 25% margin for the second half of the quarter. Now since they are reducing the margin, we know they are planning to increase the volume. This means the mystery transition cannot be a new product. No product, however cool, is going to sell over a million units in the first month. There is literally no new product that Apple could introduce that would sell enough units within the first month to lower the per unit margins by 10%. So the change must involve some existing product.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:24 am Comment from: Ampar

"This is some sick shit. "
"This just gave away that whoever wrote this rumor is 15 yrs old."

I'm not so sure. It sounds like what Steve Ballmer might have said when he caressed and straddled his first big ass table.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:25 am Comment from: HMCIV

What if Peter had said: "We are scared Shirtless about our new product line."

Would that have caused a Matrix like flexing of the Earth as the consumer electronics world collectively emptied its bowels?

Jul 22, 08 - 11:26 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

Oh great. Now we get to hear the anti-glossy crowd scream about glossy screens with nasty, greasy fingerprints all over them. Thanks Apple.

These things will look real nice in Best Buy. They'll probably have boogers and fungi all over them. Gawd, these disease infested contraptions could be the cause of the next great pandemic!

Way to go Steve, you'll be responsible for killing 25% of the worlds population. Oh well, I guess we've got it coming.

@ Petey

"There is literally no new product that Apple could introduce that would sell enough units within the first month to lower the per unit margins by 10%. So the change must involve some existing product."

-------------------------

Agreed, this has to be a huge launch and a mass sales product.

Frankly, there is only one of Apple's key products that fits this bill and could actually sell enough initial units in it's first month to effect the margin in such a drastic way.

The iPod.

What chip does P.A. Semi have now that Apple would want to use?

I agree with Ampar:

The one thing that makes this bogus is the inclusion of the slot loading superdrive. Apple would not include this in a new smaller mobile device. It would likely use the same external drive as the MacBook Air and use the remote disc technology. Because of that it throws this whole product into a very grey area.

Bonano out.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:35 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

"The MacBook is to become more book-like."

Yes, it will be designed to be held vertically, just like a book.
The keys will be located on both outer surfaces, and will be manipulated just like an accordion. Their will be no battery, as it will be powered by the pumping action.

You either learn to touch type, or yer shit outta luck.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:37 am Comment from: mike k.

this will go great with my 51" plasma TV with an integrated Mac.

... off to the Wawa ...

Jul 22, 08 - 11:38 am Comment from: ken1w

If the MacBook Air does not have an optical drive, a "tablet" Mac is not going to have an optical drive. I'm not even sure it will be called a "Mac."

Such a device will certainly appear at some point. It will be amazing.

I am not sure I buy this rumor. Apple already said Copy & Paste was a low priority for Multi-Touch. Apple can get away without them on iPhone, but not on a notebook. A MacBook Touch that relies on other means other than touch to select text, images, etc. seems pretty clumsy and Apple doesn't like clumsy.

If Apple has a full library of gestures ready for a notebook use, then the same library could be used for iPhone, in which case, Apple could simply say no comment when asked about Copy & Paste instead of disappointing people.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:41 am Comment from: John Crawford

Could there be an extra special R&D;charge in the next Quarter for a product shift announced at the end of next Q?

What utter, utter, utter bullshit.

OK, so Apple ditch the optical drive from the MacBook Air, but this has a super-drive?

It is able to run iPhone apps AND OS X apps, even though they have largely different API libraries, and one of them is designed for WIMP, not multi-touch.

They are going to use PowerPC for this, even though Snow Leopard appears to abandon this technology, yet this runs full OS X apps?

It's just utter, utter crap. A fantasists wet dream that not only won't happen, but is impossible from a UI perspective.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:48 am Comment from: locutus_ix

I was hoping for a fuel-cell-powered laptop - one that can produce power for several weeks or months without requiring re-fueling.

Jul 22, 08 - 11:50 am Comment from: DanielM

A Macbook with the iPhone/Touch OS and technology, but most important, its 200 protecting patents.

Consider also that while Leopard is the latest OS X, Snow Leopard is in the wings.

However, one should think that MobileMe and its 'cloud' technology may also be an integral part of the new transition.

That would allow Apple to bring in the last of the three types of leopards, i.e., the CLOUDED LEOPARD. Yes there is such an animal: http://www.cap.nsw.edu.au/bb_site_intro/stage1_Modules/whats_alive/leopards.htm

A 13" glass screen would be heavy. I can't see it being that size. Maybe more like around 8" or so at the most.