“Intel and its partners are about to launch the biggest promotion of a new product category called Ultrabooks since the company’s Wi-Fi based Centrino launch early last decade,” Tim Bajarin writes for TIME Magazine. “And Microsoft is about to launch a major update to Windows called Windows 8 that introduces the new ‘Metro’ touch user interface. Together they are critical products for the future of each company individually.”
“For mainstream users who have had to lug around their rather bulky laptops for the last five years, they would be justified in asking Intel and the PC vendors ‘What took you so long?’ given that Apple has had their MacBook Air on the market for five years and defined what an Ultrabook should be,” Bajarin writes. “And with Windows 8 and Metro, Microsoft is also following an evolutionary path towards touch UI’s with its Metro based smart phones and soon to be Metro based tablets and PC’s. Again, consumers could ask Microsoft “What took you so long?” since Apple has had their touch UI on the iPhone for five years and on their iPads for two years.”
Bajarin writes, “I believe Intel and Microsoft have a secret weapon in the works that could win them kudos from the marketplace and be a key driver in getting users really interested in both companies again. The secret weapon is a new form factor often referred to as ‘hybrids’… But in the latter case, the design resembles more a slim laptop or Ultrabook-like casing, and the screen can be taken off and used as a tablet. I believe this latter design is the secret weapon that Microsoft and Intel can use against Apple and at least on paper, give Apple a run for its money, especially in business and enterprise. And to a lesser extent, it could be hot in some consumer segments where the keyboard is critical and users want a laptop-centered experience as well. This is where Apple’s current strategy can be challenged… If Apple applies their innovative design knowledge to create a hybrid that blends the iPad and the MacBook Air into a single device, it could have an impact on their ability to dominate this market.”
Read more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Would you be interested in a “MacBook Air” that runs OS X, but whose HiDPI Retina display is actually an iOS-powered iPad when detached?
Surely, Apple has for years been thinking about and prototyping devices that explore the various intersections of Macintosh and iOS devices. We can’t wait to see what’s coming!
Related articles:
Microsoft needs Apple’s support if they want Windows 8 tablets to have a chance – March 21, 2012
The Guardian: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is confusing as hell; an appalling user experience – March 5, 2012
The 9 versions of Windows 8 show one of the key differences between Microsoft and Apple – March 2, 2012
Windows 8 tablet vs. Apple iPad running iOS 5: feature by feature (with video) – March 1, 2012
Needham: Apple Mac growth to continue six-year run of outpacing Windows PCs – February 28, 2012
Tim Cook: Apple the only company innovating in personal computers, and have been for some time – February 24, 2012
More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011
I remember seeing a Lenovo concept hybrid a few years ago that had two OS’s (docked laptop vs undocked tablet) that I thought was interesting.
Looking at the iOS X landscape today, there is a really interesting combination that I think Apple would be in an excellent position to do.
Considering the move in OS X to make apps on the iPad and Computer look the same, the Mac App Store taking off AND the iCloud tie-in -> Apple could offer a (relatively) seamless transition between the two environments for any companies that created apps for iOS and OS X (or, if/when they fully merge, for the new OS). If you’re on Safari on the docked device, you undock it and then you’re on iOS using Safari. If you have Reminders open, you grab the monitor (the iPad) and you’re in Reminders on iOS. With 3rd Party apps it would be the same. You could be playing Angry Birds on the monitor (the iPad) and when you dock it just switches over to the OS X version of the game.
I’m sure that all becomes a lot easier if devs can write the apps all in the same code and make a truly universal application but even without that, it’s still certainly possible. I bet it would attract a lot more developers to the computer side of Apple as well.
Its a laptop, its a tablet. No its a laptop, no its a tablet!
From my perspective, what do you get when you combine one turd running windows with a second turn running a mobile windows OS? A bowl full…..
It tastes Great!
And just look at that Shine! 😀
New Shimmer.
I love those old Saturday Night Live skits. Nobody was funnier than Radnor, Murray, Akroid and Chase.
” Radnor, Murray, Akroid and Chase.”
Don’t forget Curtain & Belushi. But yeah – that original cast was excellent & really worked well together.
Oops – “Curtin”.
Absolutely!
As well known, Logitec has already created a keyboard for the iPad. Not only it is making a “ultra book” out of it… but that keyboard also stays there as a protection when traveling around.
In this morning’s San Jose Mercury News even PC lover Wolverton dumps on Windows 8. He writes about how frustrating Metro is. Believe me if the suck ups at SJ Mercury don’t like it, then it must be really bad.
This is an idea that sounds good on paper and fails miserably in practice. The size of the OS to have both Windows 8 and their tablet OS on the same device would require a massive expansion in storage capacity, reducing internal room for the battery. Plus, it is well known that Windows 8 apps will not work on Windows Metro tablets, which means you can’t switch back and forth and continue to do the same tasks.
The other non-starter is the cost. This will certainly cost more than an iPad, and probably more than a MacBook Air because of the additional connections necessary.
Finally, you really don’t gain anything over simply adding a Bluetooth keyboard to an iPad. If you want a laptop, get a laptop.
“This is an idea that sounds good on paper and fails miserably in practice. ”
I disagree with your reasons.
“The size of the OS to have both Windows 8 and their tablet OS on the same device would require a massive expansion in storage capacity’
Nope, it’s just one OS, Windows 8.
“it is well known that Windows 8 apps will not work on Windows Metro tablets”
Nope. Windows legacy apps won’t run on WOA (Windows on ARM), but they will run on Intel. This is why the article is talking about this as being an “Intel and Microsoft” thing. With an Intel tablet, you can switch back and forth.
“The other non-starter is the cost. This will certainly cost more than an iPad, and probably more than a MacBook Air because of the additional connections necessary.”
Yes, it will cost more than either, but not more than both combined.
“Finally, you really don’t gain anything over simply adding a Bluetooth keyboard to an iPad”
Yes, actually you do. You get everything that a MacBook Air has over an iPad…ports, system-level access, and legacy Windows apps.
I don’t think hybrids will dominate the market, and will probably transition through a netbook-like phase. The biggest issue will be the clunkiness factor and people not wanting to run tablet apps when the device is a notebook and not wanting to run Windows legacy apps when running as a tablet.
The situation we have today with the iPad is improving on a couple of fronts. The first has to do with sync, and the idea that you can be working at your desk and immediately grab your iPad and run out the door and have access to everything in an interface that makes sense for a tablet.
The second has to do with the platform evolving in terms of usability as a production device as opposed to consumption. Everything from printing to file access has improved greatly already and is already there for most people, but isn’t quite there yet for all categories of use where it could conceivably even be done on a table to begin with.
Microsloth’s “Secret Weapon” is likely another “Suicide Bomb.”
Why would anyone want a keyboard anywhere but as a virtual keyboard available on the tablet, itself?
With the near future advent of a 15 or 17 inch Apple tablet with a
Retina displey, and a larger virtual keyboard that has tactile sensory abilities, who would even want a detactable keyboard?
The notion that this article speaks to the future is absurd. I trust that Apple knows where it’s tablet future is.
Apple has their secret weapon also.
The only company to build an iPad Killer – Will be Apple themselves.
The MacBook Air will transform into an OSX tablet. Call it the iPadPro or whatever you like. This is inevitable. I will not debate whether OSX is ready for this change or not. But the core features of IOS will be transplanted back in to the services for OSX. Be this 10.8.6 Mountain Lion or 10.9 or 11. No debate this will happen.
Meanwhile, you will see some other interesting devices.
One other device shalll be a 8″ wide by 4 ” self realizing device.
A device that is a glorified virtual keyboard when near the iMac, walk away it becomes a HD iPad, capable of two apps running side by side on its screen. Bring the same device closer to your Apple TV and it is a DVR and gaming console. Definitely the device will realize other devices around it and become useful and sync and function to these other things you own.
WHY… ?
Because Apple can not keep selling you an a new updated IPOD or IPHONE or IPAD. These devices are basically the same. Sizes and function can only improve as technology improves or as Apple pushes to excel. Still, something is needed for those who do not have a PC or MAC.
And there are those who demand Apple to re-focus and re-kindle the Pro-level hardware sector.
I want to start a petition to campaign for life-CEO status for Ballmer.
+1
What took them so long? They were there all along, you just didn’t notice because they all sucked.
I’ve seen at least two in use in my lifetime. Tablet / laptops hybrids running Windows on Intel chips have been in the wild for years, they just aren’t popular.
Windows 8 doesn’t look that great to me, so I doubt it’s going to suddenly make this flawed product category successful.
Just give me a 13″ iPad please.
Agreed. If anything, this could be the future of Apple laptops. You can always attach a bluetooth keyboard or other input device.
Is that why Microsoft is touting Arm processors?
Their secret weapon is … Enderele!
No, a Penis Cooler. Courtesy the HP Ice Queen – Whitless.
Designed to make you Micro and Soft!
How old are you? 14? The most insightful contribution to the discussion you can make is derogatory, sexual name-calling.
This is the craziest idea I’ve ever heard. No way Apple is going to merge the device streams. We saw the product position when iPad 1 was released. Its fits between the laptop and the desktop. It’s not a hybrid device. I don’t see why people are trying to recreate the desktop experience on a tablet. That’s the last thing you’d want to do. The mobile computer experience is just that – a mobile experience. You don’t want to have to drill down into layers of menu choices or a file system when you’re standing on a bus or at a airport check-in counter. The concept works today because the OS is for fast access to information and execution. When you add in desktop capabilities you add in desktop experience. And that is hard drives and layered menu systems. With that comes a loss of speed from a user interface perspective.
For me I only need to sit on a train and watch people interact with their devices. We’re driving to make these simpler not more complex. When it comes to menu systems and operating system design is too much choice is too much choice.
And if sometimes tells me that when they need to do serious work like a spreadsheet they need a laptop – I’ll scream! Seriously!!? A spreadsheet on a mobile device? Seriously.
Whenever I hear that a company is bringing out a “Product X killer,” it tells me that the product is designed to be a weapon in a war between corporations, not to benefit me, and if the product doesn’t benefit me, I see no need to buy it.
I saw this battle between Microsoft and Apple before. In fact, I was eating Cocoa Puffs in my pajamas at the time. Once again, Elmer Fudd and Wiley Coyote team up to defeat Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner.
I already know how this war is going to end.
Wake me up when something exciting happens.
zzzzzzz
Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. Coming to you soon.