Whether you like Apple and its iPad or not, the buzz that Apple created with its latest gizmo is impressive. From the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times, genuflecting abounded, and the “we’re not worthy” scene in Wayne’s World must have flashed through your mind a time or two. I confess: I’ve bought four iPads already.
Suppose that history was different—or that there is a parallel universe—and the iPad came out before the Macintosh. Apple would impress we the unworthy with the Apple LapTop:
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For Immediate Release
Apple Conquers the Three Cs of Computing
June 28, 2010. San Francisco, California. After nearly three decades of successfully selling iPads, Apple announced the “Apple LapTop” to a standing-room only crowd at the Worldwide Developers Conference. According to Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, “We have fulfilled people’s needs to Collect and Consume content for several decades. Today we are adding a third C—Creation. Finally, there is a better way to create content. Bigger than your hand, smaller than your desk, more precise that your finger tip‚ we call it the Apple LapTop.”
Key Features
The Apple LapTop features several breakthrough technologies that has not been available on an iPad form factor before:
- Printing
- Flash compatibility
- Built-in mechanical keyboard
- Mouse
- Built-in camera for still pictures and videoconferencing
- Built-in SD card reader
- Multi-tasking
- Read/write optical drive
- Compatibility with Microsoft Office
- Open market enabling developers to sell software directly
Pricing and Availability
There are two initial models: 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with two gigabytes of memory and a 160 gigabyte hard disk for $1,199 and a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with four gigabytes of memory and 250 gigabytes of storage. Both models also include gigabit Ethernet, two USB ports, and 13-inch displays. The LapTop will be available on an upcoming weekend that does not include a retail holiday.
Initial Reactions
A handful of pundits and industry leaders have used the Apple LapTop for several days now, and their reactions are uniformly glowing:
- Walt Mossberg (Wall Street Journal), “iPad killer? Pretty close. As I got deeper into it, I found the LapTop a pleasure to use and had less and less interest in stroking my iPad. The LapTop represents about four times the capability for two times the cost of an iPad.”
- Shantanu Narayen (CEO of Adobe), “We are glad to put the hostilities between Apple and Adobe behind us so that our mutual customers can watch both Flash and HTML 5 video. This is a promising restart of our relationship with Apple. Our top priority is an iPad version of Photoshop.”
- David Pogue (New York Times), “I’ve never seen a product as polarizing as the Apple LapTop. The haters will be regular people. The fans tend to be techies. The open market for software is pure genius—enabling much greater diversity than an Apple-controlled app store.”
There has never been a device that combined the ability to create, collect, and consume content like the Apple LapTop. Steve Jobs summarized his innermost feelings, “Frankly, we’ve done it again. Michael Dell should close Dell and return the cash to his shareholders.”
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Over time Apple will probably add features that are in the current MacBooks—as the Chinese say, “If you wait by the side of the river long enough, the features of your old computer will come floating by”—and we will genuflect some more. But the important point for companies is that Apple has set a new standard for product introductions equivalent to how the Steve Jobs of basketball changed dunking forever. We truly aren’t worthy, but at least we know what to shoot for.
