During Apple’s recent Q308 financial results conference call, “Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer told analysts that a ‘future product transition’ will lower gross margins from nearly 35 percent during the quarter that ended in June to about 30 percent in 2009,” John Boudreau reports for The Mercury News.
“As usual, Oppenheimer was cryptic, saying only ‘we’re delivering state-of-the-art products at price points that our competitors can’t match,'” Boudreau reports. “He added that one of the investments is ‘to introduce new products that initially cost more because they deliver an entirely new level of value to the customer… We have some of these types of investments in front of us that I can’t discuss.'”
Boudreau reports, “Analysts say the mystery could be a refresh of Macintosh laptops, a new architecture for its PC line, a new mini-laptop or a completely new product… Jennifer Colegrove, an analyst with iSuppli, is convinced Apple is cooking up a new touch-screen mini-laptop. Sales of touch-screen technology, popular with handheld devices such as the iPhone and iPod touch, are expected to double between now and 2013, becoming a $6.4 billion industry, she said in a new report.”
Boudreau reports, “Colegrove believes Apple might unveil a 7- to 10-inch laptop, joining the many other PC companies that are offering relatively low-cost and lightweight laptops. ‘If you look at Apple’s products – the iPhone, the iPod touch – what’s next?” she said. “It’s natural that you’ll see (touch technology) with notebook computers.'”
Full article, with more analysts’ speculation, here.
well, it’s actually the backdating that’s killing jobs. I believe that’s what you meant C1.
Apple is NOT going to release a mini laptop. Apple is about a premium computing experience. A 7-10′ laptop is a niche of a niche. The MacBook Air fills the ultraportable space.
I speculate that Apple WILL use nVidia chipsets and update the iPod nano to a very basic touch screen. BUT the nano is not allowed to download apps like the iPod Touch. Those 2 will be the product transition.
Could the people who mentioned they are going to investigate further please report back to this thread?
@Synthmeister
Why would anyone outside of SONY offer blur-ay in a from factor that small. In anything smaller than a 30″ diagonal screen does the average viewer really gain anything???
I want the BlueRay option in a Mac MIni (with HDMI 1.3) in my living room with my 42 inch 1080p LCD. (Not to mention the option of a BlueRay burner drive in the Mac Pro for end to end 1080p production!)
Now that the HD war is over, Apple should start making BR drives an option on most of their products. HD downloads are going to take a few more years to gain any traction. If Dell already has the price down to $250, think how cheap they will be for the Christmas season.
No I don’t want a BR my 9 inch tablet. Sorry, I switched streams in the middle of the horse.
I think Blu-ray is dead. The “war” ended and nobody rushed to buy blu-ray. Doesn’t that tell you something?
Apple is already anticipating a driveless, wireless only world. The MacBook air was the first step. Apple’s only waiting until it’s practical to take us all to the cloud (and to MobileMe).
7-10 inches is mini?!?!?
“Analysts say the mystery could be a refresh of Macintosh laptops, a new architecture for its PC line, a new mini-laptop or a completely new product”
no! are you serious?
the only thing they left out was the iPod! what a prediction!
“some time next week, something will happen. somewhere. seriously.”
With 7″ Mac, Apple will be moving into your car.
That thing would be hell to service…like the 12″ PowerBook!
If Apple’s engineers had to work as repair technicians for a month, all Apple’s computers would be much easier to service.
newton name not on the cards but newton new name and product soon
“to introduce new products that initially cost more because they deliver an entirely new level of value to the customer”.
I think this refers to the screen. It is the main “high price” component and comes down in price as the volumes go. For example, if Apple put a 1650×1080 LED lit screen in a 7-12 in notebook, it would be very expensive until volumes brought the price down.
Add to that a touch panel and you have the “new user experience” and the higher initial price.
All the rest of the computer components are pretty ho-hum. That can’t be what is referred to.
I find it interesting, really…..
Fairings