IDC analyst Richard Shim contributed some “analysis” for Jennifer LeClaire’s MacBook Air article for NewsFactor:
“Performance is obviously important to all users; however, the emphasis or the main feature of the MacBook Air is portability. As a user, you have to understand that you are going to sacrifice certain key capabilities, but you are gaining thinness.”
MacDailyNews Take: Good, so far.
Shim also said, “Apple set a new standard for thinness in the industry. This type of product hasn’t really done well with consumers in the past. However, we’ve never gotten to this level of thinness before. If this product resonates with the market, we will see more competition in this area.”
MacDailyNews Take: Fair enough.
Shim also said, “In our research with focus groups, thinness catches the eye. However, when you show consumers thin products you don’t show them a price. So the question is, will they be willing to pay a premium for a smaller form factor? Apple has been successful with unconventional form factors in the past.”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s fine.
The LeClaire reports, “Shim expects students and travelers to appreciate Apple’s latest computer innovation the most. Students who need to carry a notebook from the classroom to the lab to the dorm room, he said, will understand the benefits. Travelers will, too, he said, but Apple’s market is not the typical executive because they often carry notebooks using the Windows platform.”
MacDailyNews Take: What?! Either LeClaire misunderstood Richard Shim (note the lack of quotes attributed to Shim here) or he doesn’t know that Apple Macs can run Windows natively via Boot Camp and/or via fast virtualization. Regardless, this article should be corrected as it makes both of them sound totally out-of-touch.
Full article here.
Contact info:
• NewsFactor Network via Web form
• Richard Shim:
I suspect the MBA will be a serious contender for anyone who has owned any PDA, handtop device or computer ranging from the Newton and eMate to the Psion III, Toshiba Liberetto and the OQO, Flybook and viao.
Also, in addition to being of appeal to highly mobile workers, executives and students, the MBA would be particularly useful for kids with special learning needs.
I for one would welcome a new version of the MBA comprising just one half of the ‘two flap’ book design. In effect, doing away with the keyboard and merging the sensitivity of the extra large track pad into the screen.
Wait!
Did I just describe a tablet?
The fact that all new Macs can run Windows, and thus Windows-only applications, means that Mac users are not excluded.
Oh, I see: you’re _retarded_. It’s really simple: Windows-only services exclude Mac users. Just because some Macs can run Windows does not dismiss this assertion or the implications of it.
You must be a FascistRepubliKon. STFU!
Well until someone has one of these running Windows I would not count on it.
I run Mac OS X 10.5. and Windows XP on my MacBook Pro when I installed Windows it booted from the install disk. as far as I know Windows will not boot from a USB drive and the tool Apple has built is not active till the OS is running so how do we install Windows on a MacBook Air?
Before I get corrected, theoretically you could run Windows using Parallels with only 80GB of HD space and 2GB of RAM this would be painful (or at lease more painful than having to run Windows).
I wanna be an analyst, so I can say stuff without having a clue and cause company shares to bounce up and down like my head after too much crack.
Matter of IT sclerose… It seams just too hard for them to even hear the CONCEPT of a Mac being abble to run windoze!… Too sad! Will they all sink with M$’s boat?
While all new macs CAN run windows, Windows ain’t cheap, and not all mac users will want to. Mac users aren’t going to shell out for Windows and virtualization to view BBC web content, for example.
For specialized apps, it is reasonable to expect Mac users would install windows for it. But not for mainstream consumer apps.
And if you’re expecting mac users to run your app under windows, you’d better not have any mac native competition. Even MS understands this… they didn’t take Boot Camp as their cue to dismantle the MBU.
What is MDN whining about? The article doesn’t assess whether Macs or PCs are “better” than each other…just mentions that Windows is the default choice for a lot of business execs…which is true.
@yakov
I believe what MDN is saying is that the article implies or suggests the assumption that the MBA will NOT run Windows. If anyone likes the idea of getting a MacBook Air and reads this article and has a requirement to run some business software that only runs on Windows then this article might make them rule out getting a MBA when it shouldn’t as Windows runs just as well on a Mac (and safer if you run it virtually) than it does on any other PC.
It’s a fair comment from MDN and the writer should mention that Windows will run fine as a dual boot OS on any Mac. Not everyone knows Macs will run all major OSs.
After the whole wireless backup with Leopard using an airport extreme thing I wouldn’t suggest assuming the MBA can run Windows until somebody actually does it