“There’s been a changing of the guard at J.P. Morgan,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune. “Long-time Apple analyst Mark Moskowitz is out. Taking his place is telecom analyst Rod Hall, who brings with him what he believes is a $63-billion idea.”
“Apple, he wrote in an inaugural note to clients Tuesday, basically owns the market for laptops priced above $1,000. It’s got an estimated 68% market share of the North American market, a 49% share in Western Europe and a 36% share globally,” P.E.D. reports. “But according to Hall, the sweet spot for laptops, as indicated by red rectangle in the attached chart, sits just below that price point: In the $500-to-$1,000 range, into which nearly 100 million laptops — 55% of the total market — shipped in 2013.”
P.E.D. reports, “Apple could make as much as a $63 billion a year in that market, Hall argues, if it would just put a keyboard on the iPad.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Would you be interested in a hybrid Mac/iPad, the “MacPad?” Let us know in our MacDailyNews poll and in comments below.
He forgets one important thing: There’s no profit in $500-$1,000 laptops, at least not laptops built with Apple’s standard of quality.
And I don’t think a MacPad will ever come about, nor does Apple want it to. The current business model has people buying iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
It’s simple, if there is no profit, you just make up for it in volume and low quality. The answer to capturing that extra 63 Billion dollars is just to transform into a crappy and compromised company. Just ask Dell how well that works.
Apple became arguably the largest, most profitable corporation in the world precisely by ignoring the advice of the Wall Street “experts”.
Put down the Kool-Aid!
Kool-aid? Had I listened to the Wall Street “experts” over the last 11 years I’d have missed 4000% profits on AAPL, and I’d still be working for a living.
Agree; there is no way to make a good hybrid — more costly device than just an iOS tablet — and still sell it in $500-1000 without it being “junk” — I mean at least on technical side, let alone ergonomic issues that every hybrid has.
This guy clearly hasn’t entered the Apple field with any real knowledge. Those billions would be considerably curtailed by the fall, in higher profit Mac sales. Plus as we have been discussing elsewhere the iPad at present is sorely limited by its hidden file structure that limits it’s use as a real Mac replacement anyway. And at present that’s what Apple wants.
seems redundant when you can purchase a Logitech bluetooth keyboard for iPad for sixty bucks…I’m guessing he means a $500 laptop that will run OS X not iOS?
And he doesn’t apparently see that they’ve been converging the two in the past few releases, so they’re not as far apart as he thinks. Especially for the majority of people.
Exactly. Apple just needs to make sure the BlueTooth Keyboard setup is completely seamless and perhaps offer their own keyboard cover option.
But permanently putting a keyboard on the iPad is a dopey idea only a person from Microsoft or Dell would consider.
Apple could offer a cheaper MBA with lower SSD size IF they would finally increase the size of iCloud storage and make it a LOT cheaper. I really don’t understand why Apple hasn’t made iCloud a much better deal with $150 BILLION in the bank.
Yep, that’s what I’ve got : a hand-me-down iPad 1, a Logitech bluetooth Keyboard with cover/stand, and a Wacom Bamboo stylus. Total cost about £200, and with some iWork and iLife apps, that’s a perfectly usable mobile setup, at least, for my purposes, and no need for a laptop.
Whilst I have no opinion on this matter of money lying on the table, Aren’t people already attaching a keyboard to the iPad already?
In any case, “What is the MacBook Air”?
Like I said earlier, I have no opinion!
Well, I have one you are welcome to use. It employs these elements:
(1) Analyst asserts Apple is leaving $63 billion on the table
(2) No one leaves $63 billion on the table. They snatch it up
(3) Either Apple are deranged, or the analyst is
Cast one’s lot with Apple, or with a random analyst newly arrived on the scene? Hum. So vexing a decision.
My friend bought a Chromebook for his daughter and he said the worst part about it is the touch screen. He said you point to a spot of the screen and you either change a program or open one. I think a MacPad hybrid would be an awful idea.
What would be the benefit of it? Not much IMO.:)
iOS and OS X are two different operating systems. Apple has yet to make iCloud work right. I don’t want them screwing up anything else until they completely fix what they have already started on. No need to recreate the list…
I wish they would bring back the 17″ MBP and I don’t care if it has retina or is any thinner than my 2010 MBP, but I don’t want a smaller one. I would think a 17″ iPad that runs OS X would be very interesting. Or maybe one that can dual boot into OS X and/or iOS.
The MacBook Air is the sub $1,000 computer. It will become a $699 computer when the have something to fill the $1,000 space,.
Unfortunately, Mr. Elmer-DeWitt has it backwards… If Apple built a Apple quality snap on keyboard for the iPad, they would make a couple of million extra as other keyboard manufacturers suffered. BUT I’m guessing that those that buy cheap laptops already have iPads. These folks just would not buy the additional laptop. ASUS and others would suffer (not $63 billion worth).
Apple makes a quality Bluetooth keyboard already. It’s not as thin or quite as portable as Logitech’s, but it’s not bulky either.
Another analyst with an idea that impresses no one but himself.
An iPad with a keyboard is not the same as a laptop. If it were, I think a big chunk of his proposed market would be buying iPads and Logitech keyboards instead of cheap laptops.
Many people who buy cheap laptops want cheap laptops. Apple does not make junk.
I gave up talking to all the people that were so thrilled that they would be able to touch the screens of the upcoming PCs. They were completely sold on the concept of doing what Wolf Blitzer does on TV.
What a gimmick!
If there is one thing Apple knows and knows better than anyone it is the laptop market.
I will bet Apple has spreadsheets/DBs showing how all sorts of laptop form factors would get priced for an Apple product all the way between the existing iPad and the MacBook.
It is only a question of if there is enough profit, enough manufacturing space and it doesn’t adversely affect other Mac products.
These guys are all idiots. Not one could actually ever get a real job with AAPL.
If there is an iPad or hybrid config. With mouse and keyboard, then I want an OS optimum with that, as well. So we are back to coping Microsoft’s approach, which we already know, sucks. Not that it’s unusable, it’s not optimum. So, you have MacBook Air, and iPad Air, two devices, two OSes, optimized for the masses, and priced accordingly.
There is nothing valuable in the $500 – $1000 space that actually is any good. The problem is not Apple or any other vendor. The problem is build materials for the form factor. It’s a dead zone.
Exactly. You have to start reducing the cost of every part, from the chassis to the power supply to the screen to the keyboard to the hard drive/SSD and pretty soon you have a Dell.
it’ll still be better than a dell because Apple won’t use the “Hammer components together” stage of dell’s assembly line.
The reason Microsoft’s hybrid failed is because Windows 8 is the worst operating system ever developed. I had the displeasure of trying to help a friend who had a laptop running it. It was the most frustrating thing I ever had to deal with in regards to using a computer.
There’s not a manual in the world that could help with that mess of an OS. On the other hand, give me a laptop running OS X with a detachable monitor that auto switches to iOS and I’d definitely want one. The laptops monitor can double as an iPad. Make it easy to transfer data between the two environments, and I think you’d really have something.
Microsoft’s attempt at this space failed because they went off on some crazy wild tangent with their crappy tiled interface. I can’t see how anyone could be productive with that heap of garbage.
On the side if Microsoft, the tiled mess was also an attempt at not coping Apple. So there’s merit, even in a mess.
So from what you say, if Apple could find a way to build it at the right price point, they have the right OS hybrid design that maximizes usability. Unless I am misunderstanding it.
I’m in need of a new laptop, and I already own an iPad. If Apple offered a hybrid, I’d seriously consider pairing two devices down to one. OS X and iOS are already proven successes, so I don’t think they’d face the same failure Microsoft seems to be experiencing with its hybrid.
The only reason people use Windows 8 is because it’s the only OS available on those cheap laptops people keep buying because they think they’re getting a great deal. Apple is the master of think different, but in a good way. Microsoft not so much. At least prior to 8, Windows was usable. Now it’s a worthless POS.
MacPad? I would say nope. Nowadays people like to mix things up. They wanted a Mini Cooper, but yet prefer a more practical SUV. Mix the 2 you get an ugly Countryman just like a Ladyboy. A phone has its own value and same goes for tablet and Mac. Each of them taste and feel different. Let me ask a question here, you like to eat salad and you also like to eat spaghetti, did you ever mixed them in a plate? If yes, then sorry, Apple isn’t for you, because you are like a trash bin who accept trash. Therefore, I’ll suggest you to get a Samsung. Period.
What complete bollocks
Looks like what we have is a telecom analyst with ZERO knowledge of Apple history or of the incessant parade of “pundits” with their “Apple must” ideas.
Quality does not suffer if they lower their margin from 40% to 20%
They could sell the same laptops with small modifications (just like Iphone 5C) at lower margin and clean up the market.
Fact that they would just make many more would more than offset margin difference. I’m not sure what kind of Logistical challenge increased volume could create.
Meh, they’ll make up for it in the 60-billion dollar a year watch market.
An iWatch with Bluetooth LE and custom chips extends the reach of Apple’s market by an order of magnitude.
Yes, because the eMate worked out so well when they did that.
Rod Hall: Yet another ‘analyst’ who does not comprehend Apple. Dime-A-Dozen. 😛
I have tried I over $600 worth of keyboards for my iPad and have decided to not use any of them because of the added bulk and weight. over time , mt screen typing gas improved to the point that a keyboard is no longer needed.
No
An iPad with a keyboard in no laptop! iOS is fun and all but its not a fully functional O/S (feature wise, such as an exposed file system and other things)
Yet another bean counter who knows better than the company that has “changed the world” several times over. Forgive me if I ignore this guy, too. Yawn.
I am an Apple lover, but needed a cheap work machine with a high res display. I never thought I would ever buy one, and I bought the Surface 2. The OS is kinda odd, but it’s super functional as a work machine, gaming (can hook up an Xbox control), tablet, etc. it has USB 3.0 and I added a 64GB micro SD to add movies. The screen res is 1920 x 1080. I hate admitting that I really like it – and it only cost $449. I really wanted a MacBook Air, but because I use a Remote Desktop for work I needed more pixel. I cannot see paying over $1000 and only getting 1440 x 900. At any rate, I would love the iPad to have keyboard / mouse support for work functionality. I’d rather use that than the Surface. But the Surface is cool for a junker. I flip that kickstand out and watch Netflix as I’m cooking my family dinner.