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Why do so many want to kill the 12" form factor.  For those of us who like/need it, it is great.  There is a high demand for subnotebook machines.  Not only here in the US, but overseas as well.  And I personally love the small size - it is a great compliment to a desktop machine (although I use it as my only machine).  The 15 -17" line is a great replacement for a desktop machine.

Why make a tablet form factor at all?  Nobody has demonstrated (at least to me) why it is great outside of a few, specialized, small market applications.  There just isn't a high demand for these products and the lackluster sales performance of Microsoft's Tablet PC bears this out.  Not only that, I think it would be wise to keep a notebook in the $1000 range.  The top of the line 12 and 14" iBooks may be doomed, but certainly the least expensive model has a place.

I'm not sure I'd change the iPod.  I might add a pda to the line, but the iPod is perfect the way it is.  I for one don't want a device that has every bell and whistle, and falls short everywhere.  And the pda market is in dire straits right now so I'm not sure it would be a good time to jump into any new pda.  I will say, if one issists on a tablet form factor machine, I'd make it a bit smaller and just bundle the pda functions into it.  Like the old Newton!

But hey, Apple pays people who know more than I do to make these decisions

Just a guess, but within two years the ibook is going to be the size of a universal remote control and more in the $500 range.  This iBook/Pod remote would allow users to do e-mail, time shift their entertainment, download mp3's and transmit them to an ipod, play/burn DVD/Cd's, connect to a larger display, control cable and satellite, and via wireless networking to a sota sound system.  By then it will support a bigger HD for video and audio, morphing skin, faster processor, and maybe even a lighter OS based on X.

I said it first:  10 inch screen.  $500.  Damn I'm pretty.

is aluminum cheaper to manufacture than titanium.  In a past life I sold golf clubs (no jokes, at least I didn't sit in a chair all day) and the production process was intense for the Ti Shafts.  I think that may answer the profit margin question.

I think there is still a market for the current iBook lineup.  A student or user who needs basic features combined with portability will still spring for the 999 or 1299 iBook.  I recently got a 1299 iBook and even now, I couldn't throw an extra $500 out there for the 12" powerbook.  It really depends on your needs.

And I think the iBook looks better anyway!

I personally don't place any stock in all this "tablet talk". It's a totally unproven product with an unknown market potential. Theoretically it could be a smash hit, but considering market conditions (and I assume they've done testing on this) I'd say tablets will be a niche product at best.

With the "pro" products kicking butt the way they are, I think they're going to have to take a hard look at the "i" products.

With the low-end Powerbook basically blowing us out of the water ( ), there's gonna have to be some new, great attractions for iBuyers. What could these be? Some ideas:


-- Major bumps in processor speeds

-- Totally amazing price points

-- Mind-blowing design ethic

Frankly, bumps in performance aren't likely, unless, as I said in another thread, they make the G3 kick some serious tail. But if they increase performance too much, they'll threaten Powerbook sales (I guess there always has been, and always will be, tension between the i-lines and the power-lines).

And I doubt they can cut prices too much more on the iBook. I don't know why, but Apple just can't seem to cut prices on the durned thing! The idea of a $500 iBook, even a stripped-down one, really appeals to me, but I just don't see it happening.

There's always going to be an iBook of some kind. I carry my 'book all over the place, and I'd be too nervous about bringing a Powerbook to the library four times a week, from room to room in my house. But the iBook I can just toss in a bag and hit the road.

Which leaves the last possibility: a totally bitchin' design. Could we be in for another reissuing of the iBook this year? Well, doubtful.

I suppose the logical conclusion is that, when the G5 hits the Powerbooks, the iBooks will get G4s, and when the iBooks do get the G4, it'll be accompanied by another redesign. Or so thinks I.

Not me, man, I'm drooling for the new 12" PowerBook!![/i]

If I could come up with $2000 for a system, I would just save a bit more and get a fully decked out powerbook.  Man those things would rock in a LAN party, work environment, or whatever.  And now I have ammo to shut my PC friend up with about his 15" screen on his Alienware laptop, which is a whopping 12lbs. by the way.