I can't help but think they've missed the boat on this one. Yes, it is beautiful and technolust-inspiring but the flaws are many. to wit:
No user-removable battery. This is a guaranteed trip to Apple in a year or two, and when traveling, one will have to carry a dongle- enabled external battery if one needs extra power away from a wall outlet, 5 hours of battery life not withstanding. External DVD drive. I remember when I had my Powerbook Duo. When commuting I never worried about the external drive, but when traveling I always carried it. Why? It seemed like there was always software to install, or offload to a client or video to watch. So in the bag it goes, along with the cable. Didn't really save much space. And then there is the external connector--a possible failure point...unless it is magsafe too. A single USB port, and no firewire. This limits the disks and peripherals you can connect to, and will inspire a plethora of USB hubs meant for the MBA. Which will go into the bag. Again, space saving? The RAM disk version is $3k. I'm not sure you're gonna save a lot of weight because of the extra stuff you'll have to carry around (Is the AC adapter as sleek?) and purchase. The Duo failed because it while it was beautiful and cool as hell, it underperformed as laptop and was limited as a desktop. I can't see anyone who is in a creative field purchasing this unless it is a luxury. I can't see this being a primary machine and at $2k-3k, it is a very expensive peripheral. I see this as targeted toward executives who want a sexy meeting accessory, or someone who just uses her MBA to blog a little, and surf a lot, or a writer. It is a beautiful machine but it smells like the Cube. It too was a beautiful, limited machine, a feat of engineering. But with the lack of expandability and it's cost, people could not justify it. It died, as did the 10th anniversary mac, the other "executive" mac. It's really funny but Apple from time to time comes out with these products that are meant to show off their engineering prowess, but don't really address that sweet spot intersection between cost, utility and aesthetics. Each time they do, the product usually fails, but serves to inform other products. For example: Failure: Apple Lisa Value: Precursor to the Mac, proved the concept of GUI interfaces and the mouse Evolution: Mac Plus Failure: Macintosh Portable Value: Introduced the trackball Evolution: Powerbook Failure: Mac 10th anniversary edition Value: First example of a vertical computer built around a screen Evolution: iMac G5 and later Failure: Cube Value: Compact design, fanless ducting, limited technology, desktop eye candy Evolution: Mac Mini Failure: Newton Value: PDA, synchronization, touch screen Evolution: iPhone In each case the failed product was sexy and groundbreaking, but failed to meet a need. I can't help thinking that is what happened with the Air. From a strategic perspective they targeted the wrong target. Instead of out Vaio-ing the Vaio, they should have targeted and out eee'd the eeePC. Small, light, Linux capable and cheap. ($400) An excellent machine that bridges the gap between smartphone and laptop. Imagine the eeePC running OS X with a svelte polycarbonate shell with aluminum trim. I'd jump on it in a second, just to have something with me at all times. For $400 it is a no brainer, but for $2k? I'd have a hard time justifying it and I think others will too. I'll have to let the Air breeze by. Now of course, I'll be proved completely wrong, and it will be a raging success and I'll feel really dumb about this email. But that's Karma, and she's a tough old broad. :-) --- Eric Diamond F I R S T W A T E R strategic design + planning 847 674 6568 office 847 414 6467 mobile 847 380 1887 SkypeIn ericdiamondmm AIM, Skype On Jan 15, 2008, at 12:45 PM, Murli Nagasundaram wrote: > There's probably going to be at least one person on this list who's > got a glimpse of MBA today: > > http://www.apple.com/macbookair/ > > Any reports on this, particularly the multitouch interface would be > appreciated. > > Another issue -- there are some similarities here to the design > parameters for the Tata Nano -- strip the dang thing down to its > essence. MBA, of course, has a more elitist market than the Nano. > There's unlikely to be any issues raised regarding the possible > downsides of proliferating the Air. Incidentally, Apple claims that > they've gone the extra mile in making the Air eco-friendly (in > disposal). > > Thanks. > > Murli > ________________________________________________________________ > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
