“Apple should pull out the stops and release a 3G-enabled laptop for network operators panting to get their mitts on a MacBook with built in mobile broadband connectivity,” Tony Smith reports for Register Hardware.
“That’s what Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston advised the Mac maker today. Why? Because ‘many operators in the US and Western Europe would jump at the chance to cross-sell a cellular MacBook to their installed base of iPhone users, in order to stimulate ARPU’ – average revenue per user,” Smith reports.
“‘Bigger-screen or smaller-screen laptops with integrated cellular radios are a logical next step for Apple – and others,’ he said. ‘Such form-factors are within Apple’s core competence and they could be quickly developed,'” Smith reports. “Such is the carriers’ fervour for 3G laptops that Mawston said he believes this will be Apple’s ‘next move.'”
“When it revamped its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines just a couple of weeks ago – not to mention simultaneously announcing a revised MacBook Air that’ll ship any day now – Apple didn’t say anything about cellular connectivity,” Smith reports. “But Macworld Expo is coming up in early January, and any Apple ‘next move’ is likely to be made then.”
Full article here.
[Attribution: MacWorld UK. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H.” for the heads up.]