“Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes asserts that Apple is likely to broaden its iPhone line with a low-end model, but not until calendar Q3 2009 at the earliest,” Eric Savitz reports for Barron’s.
“Reitzes also asserted that it ‘makes complete sense’ for the company to introduce an ultra-portable device to fill the price gap between the $399 high-end iPod Touch and the $999 MacBook. ‘This $600 gap needs to be filled and we think it can be with a premium ultra-portable device using multi-touch technology,’ he writes. ‘We believe an ultra-portable can be done right by Apple and do not believe the company wants to follow the netbook model, trying to pack full PC functionality into a something small and cheap. Apple, in our view, would only introduce a premium product that doesn’t dilute its brand,'” Savitz reports.
“Reitzes imagines a touchscreen tablet capable of video chat, with a front-facing iSight camera, and the ability to view documents and perhaps access more Apple software and content via MobileMe or ‘the cloud.’ He thinks such a product would be ‘perfect’ for partnering with wireless carriers “who can even subsidize the product.’ Concludes Reitzes: ‘Net net, Apple needs to fill a gap in terms of price and its current $600 gap is mysterious,'” Savitz reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brian B.” for the heads up.]
@ Cascadians
You mean you wouldn’t complain that it was too heavy, too expensive, needed a headset to make calls, that typing was too difficult for your aged arthritic fingers, that holding up a 7″ block to take a picture was stupid, it has a glossy screen – oh,an where’s my firewire?
Yeah, sure you’re waiting for this.
Analyst? …Bla! Bla! Bla!… Just to ply around with shares?
I’m with KingMel. There’s a big gap between a Touch and a MacBook. A Touch with a 7-inch screen that’s still under a pound could have a lot of appeal, particularly as the AppStore continues to mature.
Fingers still fine, terrific dexterity. Wouldn’t be too heavy at all, would have a bigger virtual keyboard, speaker phone, already do not use firewire, and with all the screaming they might bring firewire back. It would be perfect. And with their new unibody technology it could be any shape at all, definitely something easy to hold and use. For the largest and fastest growing demographic this would be extremely welcome and used.
Morons. Apple hasn’t listen to them in the past, and isn’t about to start. And I can think of 26 billion reasons why…
@Reality Check:
“What’s a low-end iPhone? I suppose it would be an iPhone 3G with the atrocious battery life Steve Job’s claimed would be the result of using 3G and which all the parrots on this forum spouted religiously until the 3G phone was actually released, until Apple’s engineers solved the problem and figured out how to extend the iPhone’s battery life while upgrading the product line to 3G.
There. Fixed that for you.
Maybe it’s time to bring back a slimmer Newton form factor with a fold out keyboard, Isight camera for video-conferencing, 16GB – 48GB SSD wifi and cell telephony capable with handwriting recognition. 2 Mini USB 2.0 ports. While you’re at it make it make it Wimax capable and 7 hour battery life with maybe 2 mini card slot. Form factor 4″X7″X 3/8″ with the fold out keyboard being a multi-touch screen . Price range from $599 – $1099 depending on options including wireless N capability. Applications could be via Google apps or on Mini cards and design it to be able to use some apps from the App store. Outboard sound port with video out (no built in speakers), and blue tooth head phone and head set capable, all run on an OSX core. You would then beef up the MBA with more features (larger SSD, Wimax capable . With Quicktime and Itunes you would have built in ipod functionality. I figure apple could move a 1/2 million of these niche machines per year with between 25% and 40% margin.
Thing is, the Netbook ‘ultraportable’ market is really taking off. Jobs sees this, and has been looking to build a device that will come to dominate the space. Some sort of iPod touch on steroids, maybe even one with a keypad, seems inevitable.
It’s true Jobs said they ‘could not’ build something that wasn’t garbage at a certain price point. But he also once said Apple wasn’t going to compete for the low end of the MP3 player market, yet they found a way. Price is not really the issue though. Size and functionality are the issues. Apple does NOT need to build a $250 netbook. They need to build a $700 netbook that’s better and cooler than anyone else’s.
Imagine how much power you could pack into something with roughly the same form factor as a Newton these days. Of course, it would not be as thick. Both Apple and Steve seem to have a thing for ultra-thin these days…
(No flames, please. Just a JOKE. Geez.)
Yeah, the ‘return of the Newton’ rumors have been circulating forever. But the Newton never caught on (despite the fact that I myself bought two). Like the Apple digital camera (yeah, had one of those too), it was ahead of its time. Now, the time has come. The market clearly exists. Competitors are selling products in the space, just like they were selling MP3 devices before Apple came along.
i want that product !
more than an iPhone, and a MacBook Air.
i used to work at Apple in 1991, a whole team was working on such a product (a tablet mac, not a big newton), it was never released.
17 years later we are still waiting !
it would be the only socially acceptable computer to take to the restaurant I’m sitting in right now, with my MBA having to endure vexing comments from time to time.
it’s SO easy, they should just make a larger iPhone !
1 GB ram, 64 GB flash, 1024*768 screen, with USB and iPod connector.
….
and (of course), remove the phone part !
(GPS and camera are very welcome)
seriously, who wouldn’t want one ?
ideally it should run mac os and iPhone os software (that’s doable)
@ bobchr
a 7 hour battery life would make this device horribly heavy, or/and slow or/and expensive.
to give u an idea: the MBA battery takes over half the space inside the MBA., it goes from the frontmost edge to the “A” key on the (qwerty) keyboard, it’s HUGE !