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Eighteen months. It’s been 18 long months since Apple last released a game-changing piece of hardware, a product that reinvented a category and captured our imaginations, provoking eyes agoogly and jaws agape. That product was, of course, the original iPhone, a smart phone that could have been aptly named iPhone SG--iPhone Sui Generis--for it truly belonged in a class by itself.

But can any product release since the iPhone be considered an indisputable game-changer? The MacBook Air--slim of profile, portly of charm--came close. However, once you come down from the high of marveling at its aesthetics, the Air is still a rather prosaic notebook from a functionality standpoint. A changer of games it is not.

And so we’re left to wonder what comes next. It’s been 18 months, and an Applequake is due. Just three months ago, we were anticipating a new form of MacBook, something of the nano or touch persuasion, remarkable for its small size or novel user interface. But that MacBook never emerged, and its rumored code name, the “brick,” turned out to be a reference to a new manufacturing process, not a game-changing product, in and of itself. Well, we’re still smitten by this whole brick concept, so to satisfy our curiosities, we conjectured, spec’d, and illustrated how this notebook could take shape. And then we went further, designing three more game-changing fauxtotypes that could maybe, possibly, conceivably find a home in the Apple product universe.

Is it presumptuous to think our ideas could ever pass the muster of Apple’s design team? Most certainly, yes. We’re not privy to any official, codified design briefs (which surely must be the most fascinating design documents of the 21st century), and we’re not handcuffed by the limits of technology, economy, legality, and all the other factors that stop wild ideas at the cocktail-napkin stage. Nonetheless, it’s because we’re so entirely inspired by Apple design that we’re compelled to play along. The following four products are just fanciful “what ifs” to explore and hypothesize while we wait for the real game-changers to emerge.

Check out our first prototype, the triBook. More screen real estate than you can shake a stick at. 

Remarkably mobile. Utterly functional. Apple solves the portability puzzle, leaving screen real estate unscathed.

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The MacBook Air is about as sexy as a notebook gets. Just try pulling one out in a crowd. First comes the oohing, and then the ahhing, and then--sorry, but yes--the borderline-inappropriate fondling. There’s just something about the Air’s katana-thin profile that demands hands-on attention. People need to touch it, and open it, and prove to themselves that it is indeed a functional computer.

But the honeymoon doesn’t last forever. The Air is the perfect computer for a very particular user, but it’s not perfect in toto. No optical drive. No FireWire. The hard drive--anemic. And while the Air’s height is essentially nonexistent, its width-depth footprint is still a bulkmeister. In a lot of book bags and backpacks, the Air is as awkward a fit as any traditional notebook.
Thus the triBook. At first glance, it’s not quite as spectacular looking as the Air, but its amazing story literally unfolds as you put it to use.

At a mere 6.75 inches deep, 10 inches wide, and about an inch tall, the triBook strikes a modest profile--it easily slips into most purses and man bags and completely disappears inside any book bag or backpack. But while portability is nice, it’s typically achieved at the expense of utility, and this is where the triBook is a triumph. When the triBook’s lid is closed, the two side screens tuck in neatly, sandwiched between the main display and the keyboard/touchpad. And when it’s time to use the machine, you lift the lid and unfold the side panels, just as if you were unfolding a cardboard box.

When the two side screens are fully unfolded to form a flat plane with the center screen, you’re left with an ultrawide landscape display of 21 diagonal inches. Indeed, not only is the triBook more portable than the Air, it also offers much more screen real estate. But have fun, play a little. The sides don’t have to pivot by a perfect 180. Cocked at a jaunty angle, each side screen can be set to form a little privacy barrier.

Now, we could claim that the triBook is Apple’s much-anticipated entry into the “netbook” market, but using the term netbook doesn’t do the machine justice. Netbooks are teeny, tiny notebooks stuffed with underpowered parts, including the most insubstantial of screens. In other words, they’re imminently portable, but really only good for surfing webpages and typing out email.

Not so with the triBook. Besides no-compromise screen real estate, the triBook comes with an 8x SuperDrive, a kick-ass hard drive, an array of I/O connectors, and a MacBook Pro-caliber CPU. All that plus a generous keyboard and an expanded multitouch trackpad that supports a whole new complement of touch gestures.

So this is it, the so-called “brick” notebook that’s been rumor-mill fodder for the last three months. An exceedingly simple but effective concept—in short, Apple to the very core.

Next, the GameDock prototype. Ready to bring your iPhone and TV together.

Would you like your App Store gaming for here or to go? Apple docks its handhelds—and more than doubles the fun of a single download.

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Let’s speak in hypotheticals. Let’s say--just for the sake of argument--that the iPhone and iPod touch have delivered the promise of an entirely new handheld gaming platform. Let’s say that game developers have all developed nerd crushes on the platform’s mighty ARM processor, a processor that can be clocked up to 620MHz, if battery life is of no concern, as well as a processor--a mobile processor, mind you--that closely matches the firepower of processors found in console systems like the Sega Dreamcast, Sony PS2, and original Xbox. Let’s just say that. And let’s also say--again, just for the sake of argument--that the marketing cronies of all those nerd game developers are obsessing over the platform’s content delivery system, the App Store, which makes downloading a bazillion games every month incredibly difficult to resist.

Sounds like a recipe for greatness, right? Well, it is once you take this nifty little gaming platform and assign it double duty as both a handheld and a console system.

The GameDock accommodates the iPhone and iPod touch and hooks directly to your TV and the Internet. Whether you download a game wirelessly via the handheld or wiredly via the GameDock, you pay just once for two versions of the same title.

This is where things get interesting. When you download a game straight to your handheld, you can immediately begin playing the touch-controlled version of the game. And it’s glorious! And the next time you seat your handheld in the GameDock, the console immediately sucks down the full, expanded version of the game from the App Store, and stores it in its voluminous hard drive. So now you can play the console version of the very same game--with more features, more content, expanded controls, and, thanks to the GameDock’s integrated graphics processor, better visuals.

And should you first download a game when your handheld is seated in the GameDock, the “mini” version of the game shoots straight into your iPhone or touch, ready to play the next time you disengage from the console and hit the road.

Of course, the GameDock scheme wouldn’t be quite so interesting if not for its seamless integration of content. For some game titles, the handheld version of the game exists as sort of an autonomous “mini game”--its gameplay model runs independent of the console version’s. But for other titles, the handheld and console versions of the same game work together. Gameplay models obviously differ between the mobile and full versions, but each version hooks into the other in creative, novel, symbiotic ways. And through the power of syncing, your progress in level- and achievement-based games is saved and always propelled forward, regardless of which version you’re playing.

A remarkable new gaming platform? Yes, let’s just say that.

Next, build your own machine with the LMac.

Apple teams up with an iconographic equal to deliver its first build-it-yourself Mac. Fun, learning, and near limitless customization ensue.

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Endlessly modifiable—it’s a term that characterizes PCs, but has never been used to describe Macs. Until now. We give you the LMac, the desktop computer love child of two companies renown for clever, enduring visual design.

It was inevitable, wasn’t it? In this polysynergistic corporatized world of ours--where Microsoft bonds with NBC, Ford teams up with Eddie Bauer, and even the jam-band Phish has its own Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor--it was inevitable that at some point Apple would look for a suitable partner with which to mix some DNA. And what better partner than LEGO? Like Apple, LEGO’s brand ID is so rock-solid, it can not only withstand some fanciful brand fusion, but can actually benefit from that fusion in a profound way.

On an aesthetic level, LEGO is the perfect DNA donor because its visual language matches the simplicity and whimsy of Apple’s. But let’s also acknowledge LEGO’s excursions into DIY geek-tech, which is where the LEGO-Mac marriage really finds its stride. LEGO’s first forays into hardcore tinkering were manifest in its Technic series, noteworthy for complex gear assemblies, pneumatic parts, and electric motors. And then came the MindStorms series, which plunged deep into computer-controlled robotics.

So why not go one step further by offering a full-fledged LEGO personal computer?

Actually, the LMac might not be one step further, but rather two shuffle steps to the side. It’s a fully functional, OS X–driven Macintosh, but because it’s geared toward ages 8 and older, it offers more of a traditional edutainment experience than the MindStorms or Technic kits (which are Mensa-level mindfracks for all but the nerdiest of nerds). The LMac’s owners manual not only details a relatively simple assembly process, but also explains the roles of all the different computer parts within the data-crunching workflow.

The LMac’s computer components use industry-standard connector interfaces, but the actual parts lock into place via LEGO’s familiar round “studs.” Male/female component pairs are color-coded for convenience, and parts that have no business being snapped to each other actually can’t be snapped together, ensuring no precious electronics are improperly mated. And because the LMac must survive in the harsh environment of a child’s bedroom, its pieces have significantly more “clutch power” than that of the typical LEGO brick. In other words, once snapped together, the LMac pieces stay together until it’s time to break the project down and begin again.

Of course, the LMac wouldn’t be a LEGO kit unless it let you imagine multiple variations of the basic theme. So, while the computer parts only snap together in one particular way, you have carte blanche in personalizing all non-computing parts of the structure. Bricks with various colors, themes, LED lights, and even programmable “E-ink” displays are available for purchase online, ensuring you never run out of customization possibilities.

Let it never again be said that Macs aren’t for DIY-modding enthusiasts. The LMac changes everything.

Next, pretend you're Admiral Ackbar with the iCom.

It’s a music player, a digital picture frame, a weather station--and a holophone. It’s a do-everything kiosk for all that informs and entertains.

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No one really needs the iCom. But once anyone sees the iCom, it becomes a necessity--because it’s a gift from the future and probably the coolest tech toy ever created. Simply put, the iCom is a slick, svelte, semi-stationary command station that wirelessly sucks down content from your Wi-Fi connection and showcases it on a touch-controlled display.

If you think its interface bears a resemblance to your iPhone’s, you’re right. The iCom’s LCD screen can display three iPhone app-sized interfaces side-by-side, along with a scrolling toolbar populated with a near infinite number of icons. The iCom comes with most of the “standard” iPhone apps, but you can also download third-party apps, some designed specifically for the iCom’s special talents. Want to turn the iCom into a digital picture frame with a rotating slide show? It can do that. Want it to stream music from your iTunes collection, while running a pulsating light show on the screen? It can do that. Want it to display continuously updated news feeds for weather, sports, and stock information? It can do that.

Or how about this: You can place the iCom in your corporate lobby and set it to display a continuous rotation of feel-good brand messaging. Or you can prop it somewhere in your cubicle and have it suck down fuzzy-wuzzy kitty photos via your “LOLCat-a-Day” app. Whether you display three apps side by side or choose to let one take over the screen, the iCom always presents a visual feast.

And the main course of that feast is undoubtedly the iCom’s holoscreen. In March 2008, Apple filed a patent application for a “realistic holographic 3D display experience,” and now that technology is introduced via the iCom in 360 degrees of outrageous, mind-blowing wonder.

Remember that pulsating light show that synchronizes with your iTunes music? Well, the visual theatrics grow a thousand-fold when you have a go-go-dancing holographic avatar bopping along to the beat. Whether you want the holoscreen to display something as mundane as the current time or as engaging as a real-time holochat session, it’s always a stunning treat for the eyes. And with bundled software, you can design your own custom holochat avatars, should you want to represent yourself as a 300-year-old transsexual lemur or even Steve Jobs.

Help us, Obi-Steve KeJoby! You’re our only hope!

Next, tips on creating your own Apple Fauxtype. 

Looking to conceive, design, and present your own Apple fauxtotype? Here are four tips to help get you started.

1 Unless your product’s name starts with a lowercase letter (preferably an “i”) immediately followed by a capital letter, you’re at a disadvantage. You might still have hope if your product name employs an “intercap,” but you’ll still have to deal with the shame of knowing the definition of “intercap.”

2 Look at existing Apple products and let their aesthetics inform your designs. You’ll find that most Apple products are silvery (except when they’re black, white, brightly colored, or semi-opaque), have a few seamlessly integrated buttons (except when they have no buttons whatsoever), and come with an Apple logo (except when the Apple logo is nowhere to be seen).

3 It also pays to write the words “iconographic,” “breathtaking,” “sublime, and “chimichanga” on a piece of paper, and then post that piece of paper in your work area. The first three words will help you channel Jonathan Ive. Chimichanga will remind you to take food breaks. Fauxtotype creation is not for hypoglycemics.

4 Check Apple’s patent filings online, grab the zaniest patent idea, and then employ it in your fauxtotype, making sure to push the product’s feasibility beyond the scope of human reason. Yay! You’re done!

Check out last years radical hardware prototypes, including the Audi iCar!