Neil McIntosh
Apple Computer is set to unveil its revolutionary consumer laptop, which will combine cutting-edge design with new engineering techniques in a package priced below the company’s existing PowerBook range.
An industry analyst who has been briefed by Apple engineers says the machine, pitched at students and home users, will be introduced by Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs at the current MacWorld exhibition in New York.
Despite speculation last month that the project could be cancelled because of technical problems, it is now thought the new machines could go on sale in the United States in September.
Richard Doherty, director of research at the Envisioneering Group, says the new machine will deliver “most of the Macintosh PowerBook experience, in a more affordable, economical, lighter and durable package”.
The price of the machine, thought to have a 30cm screen, is not yet known. At the heart of the portable will be a new technology to put most of the computer’s components on a single chip – a feature which Doherty thinks will not be widespread in the PC world “for some time”.
He adds: “To get improved battery life and processing power, Apple has engaged in a massive re-engineering of the electronic componentry inside, which will also allow them to price it for consumers and for some organisations, who will order these in lieu of PC or even PowerBook products.
“Almost everything has been put into a single chip, which reduces the cost and raises the reliability, while reducing the power it needs. That’s hard for the PC community to do, because when there is too much chip integration, especially by a company like Intel, people say that’s too monopolistic. But for Apple, with less than 10% market share worldwide, it’s just plain good business sense.”
But by far the most interest has been in Apple’s answer for the desktop market: the iMac. Launched this time last year, the comparatively cheap, colourful, all-in-one computer quickly became the US’s top selling computer by taking Apple back to its original message – computers for the rest of us. Using that message, it effectively targeted a new generation of “non-nerd” computer users, while still offering respectable technical specifications. Building on that success, the company is expected to unveil the next generation iMac in time for the Christmas rush. It will sport a faster processor and larger screen.
There have also been suggestions the company may produce Apple-branded Palm V hand-held computers in iMac-matching colour schemes. That will be Apple’s first dalliance in the handheld market since Jobs killed off the unprofitable Newton project.