The gadget industry is waiting in suspense, wondering if you're going to buy an Apple tablet. Because if you do, they're going to flip the production line's on switch.
The ultrathin MacBook Air exudes some of the aspects of an expected Apple tablet, according to one analyst.
(Credit: Apple)Apple has a knack for creating new categories of devices. The iPhone arguably created the high-end smartphone segment and the design was parroted by dozens of device makers and carriers. The MacBook Air inspired the ultrathin laptop category.
The expected--and highly anticipated--Apple tablet would do the same. Manufacturing companies in Asia are eager to find a new category of devices to fill up their factories, according to an analyst I spoke with recently who monitors these things.
I will make an exception--which I almost never do--and not identify the analyst. He claims to have seen a prototype of the Apple tablet and would prefer not to be identified. (Yeah, I know, more than a few analysts claim they have seen the furtive device. But I will go out on a limb and say I trust him. He claims the MacBook Air has some of the aesthetic qualities of the tablet.)
The point is that many Asia-based manufacturers would be quite pleased if the Apple tablet was a success and, as a result, ushered in a new device category. Needless to say, companies like Dell, Sony, and Acer would quickly follow suit if consumers started snapping up boatloads of Apple tablets.
But Apple will stay above the fray, according to this analyst, offering a device that's very thin, light--and expensive. In other words, don't expect Apple to bring out a $199 tablet, as you may see from other companies that market a media pad-type device. Apple won't be bashful about charging more than $500.
Competing devices will vary widely. My prediction is that the market outside of an Apple-branded tablet will not be a Windows-Intel enclave. Like cell phones and media players, many tablet devices will likely be offered by carriers and device makers using the ubiquitous ARM processor that runs operating systems like Google's Android or the upcoming Chrome OS.
Why ARM chips? They're cheap, very power efficient (necessary for all-day battery life), and have enough horsepower to make a tablet experience compelling. Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Nvidia are either offering chips now--or are slated to bring out silicon next year--that can easily scale up from smartphones to larger devices like tablets or media pads.
What's that? Don't think you would buy one? Don't think a tablet fills a market need? Get back to me a year from now when you have a sudden epiphany and find yourself in an Apple Store or Best Buy eying one as an essential adjunct to your inner circle of gadgets.
Though Apple has yet to offer built-in 3G on MacBooks, pairing them up with phones like the Blackberry Storm provides a decent wireless workaround.
The MacBook Air can use the Blackberry Storm as a Bluetooth 3G modem
(Credit: Brooke Crothers)In December, I took the MacBook Air (i.e., the designers of the Air) to task for what I thought was a serious technological gaffe: not building 3G into the Air. At the very least, I thought 3G should have been included in the October refresh of the Air.
But I'm not going to rehash those gripes here (or repeat Apple's likely reasons for not including 3G). This time I bring good tidings.
After recently picking up a Blackberry Storm (Verizon), I quickly set it up as a Bluetooth "3G" modem by pairing it with my MacBook Air. The Blackberry uses an EV-DO 3G connection.
The Storm was relatively easy to set up and "tether" to the Air. And the results were better than I expected. Using Speedtest.net, I got download speeds of up to 1,088 Kbps (though it was typically closer to 500-600 Kbps) and uploads of up to 127 Kbps. Not torrential bandwidth but certainly good enough for the occasions when I don't have access to Wi-Fi (or when the Wi-Fi is iffy).
By comparison, on my Hewlett-Packard 2510p ultraportable with a built-in Verizon EV-DO modem, Speedtest.net said I was getting download speeds of up to 1,392 Kbps and uploads of 469 Kbps. (The Air's Wi-Fi connection gets about 2X download and 4X upload more than the Storm.)
As to setup: First, pair the two Bluetooth devices, then configure the phone on the MacBook side, telling it during the configuration process that you want to "Access the Internet with your phone's data connection." In Verizon's case, the account name is yourphonenumber@vzw3.com Then, in the next screen, you select "vendor: other" and "Verizon support, PC5220." (See screen shot of OS X 10.5.6 configuration Network setup.)
Setting up the Blackberry Storm as a Bluetooth modem was relatively easy
(Credit: Brooke Crothers)Do I still wish Apple would build 3G into the MBA? Of course. But I am pretty satisfied with this solution for now. Particularly when it allows me to extract more functionality out of the Storm. (Which as a standalone 3G phone I like a lot and which I will review in the near future.).
Verizon, however, does charge extra for tethering, particularly if the Storm is connected via USB. I have no interest in a USB connection (at least, not at this time) because that defeats the purpose of having a wireless Bluetooth-enabled phone. As people have pointed out, a Bluetooth modem is much more convenient. Particularly for frequent travelers. I can just attach the Blackberry to my belt and use the Air as though it had a built-in 3G modem.
(Note: A reader in Ireland provided the inspiration to use the Storm as a modem when he correctly pointed out that internal 3G access would start to get expensive if you had a modem in each computer, with each requiring a separate subscription. Or would become inconvenient if you kept having to move SIM cards between computers.)
(Also note that a quick search will yield examples of people who have hooked their Blackberry up to a MacBook.)
Apple's MacBook Air doesn't live up to its wireless promise.
To quote an Apple tagline, "without wires, you're free to go anywhere." But the wireless part of the "air" play on words fails to deliver. (The other half its light-as-air weight: here it does deliver.)
As I've written in the past, I like the Air. I got one in February as soon as it was available at retail and have been pleased with the performance, screen, keyboard, build, and, until recently, the battery life (which has dwindled to under an hour). Of course, the head-turning aluminum aesthetics is also a major appeal to many people.
That said, after a spurt of trips including a 10-day stay on the East Coast and a few treks to Los Angeles, the Air's wireless shortcomings have become painfully clear. In a word (or two), no 3G.
Now, before I get slammed, let me say that I fully realize that I'm not the first person to reach this conclusion so I'm not claiming any unique epiphany. There were a number of observers citing this paradox way back in January. Some frustrated users even attempted hacks to shoehorn a 3G modem into the Air. The point is: because of the price and the way it's marketed, 3G should be built in.
But the full brunt of not having 3G hit me on Friday when I made a trip to Qualcomm to get briefed on a new version of the Snapdragon applications processor (more on this in another post). Sitting there in the nerve center of one of greatest wireless companies in the world, I couldn't get a wireless connection. Everyone else in the room had 3G connections of one kind or another. The Air instantly became the proverbial doorstop (or paper weight--choose your simile, or maybe it's more apropos to say it was a dinosaur.)
It didn't take much prodding from me to get the Qualcomm product manager to point out this fatal flaw.
This came after weeks of not being able to use the Air in many situations when I desperately needed a wireless connection. For instance, not all LA airports have reliable Wi-Fi connections. The John Wayne Airport in Orange County being one example. And when I was on the East Coast, one sprawling place I stayed at for several nights had Wi-Fi only in one inconveniently situated area that was inaccessible at night.
In these situations, the Air is nothing more than a slab of beautifully sculpted aluminum.
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Hewlett-Packard Compaq 2510p (L) and MacBook Air. The HP comes with a built-in WWAN option, the Air does not.
(Credit: Brooke Crothers)Which brings me to the cult of Steve Jobs. Apple was brilliant enough to deliver a groundbreaking design like the Air but why wasn't it savvy enough to build in 3G?
Before I get slammed again, let me throw out some reasons (excuses) why Apple didn't build in 3G, based on reports I've read and my own observations. Apple didn't like the fact that 3G modems often made the user commit to one service provider, i.e., Verizon or Sprint or Vodafone. Or, it believed that if users wanted 3G, they could simply plug in a USB 3G modem.
I have serious problems with both of those reasons. Particularly when you're paying typically more than $1,800 (or $2,500, depending on the model) for a notebook billed as a wireless wonder (for Apple ad copy on why the Air is such a wonderful wireless laptop, just cruise over to Apple's MBA page.) And I have even more of a problem when ultrathin Netbooks are coming with 3G at one-third (and potentially a tiny fraction of) the cost of the Air.
For comparison, let's look at another Valley company, Hewlett-Packard. HP has been selling WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) modems in its business laptops for at least two years (and probably longer). The HP-Compaq NC6400 laptop introduced about two years ago was offered from day one with WWAN built in.
Granted, the choice of carriers at first was limited but look at HP's offerings today. Models (including those in the EliteBook line) are offered with Qualcomm's Gobi modem. Gobi obviates the need to have unique radios for each carrier. Gobi supports Verizon, Sprint, and others in one device.
Where was Gobi when Apple refreshed the MacBooks in October? I'm sure Apple has plenty of excuses (for example, not enough space in the Air's ultrathin design).
But Apple should have had 3G from the beginning and certainly in the October refresh. In today's 3G world, continuing to call it the MacBook Air brings another meaning to the play on words: lightness of weight with a touch of advertising hot air.
Additional comments::
The point is not that a user can potentially add an external WWAN modem (though
even that's not necessarily easy to do), the point is that the Air should come with 3G capability built in considering how the computer is marketed.
Having overseen Apple's carefully planned steps through the stock-options backdating mess, Donald Rosenberg's ready for a new challenge.
Donald Rosenberg's leaving Apple for new pastures at Qualcomm.
(Credit: Apple)Rosenberg will resign as Apple's general counsel to take the same position at Qualcomm, the companies announced Friday. Apple is hiring Daniel Cooperman, Oracle's general counsel, to take his place effective November 1.
Qualcomm is giving Rosenberg a fancier title (executive VP, as compared with senior) and arguably a bigger legal challenge than Apple faced heading off stock-options investigators. Qualcomm, which controls almost all of the technology used in cell phone networking chips, is in the middle of legal disputes with Broadcom and Nokia over patents. The International Trade Commission banned imports of phones using Qualcomm's chips as part of the patent dispute with Broadcom, although that ruling was later stayed by an appellate court. He'll hit the ground running, replacing Lou Lupin, who resigned last month.
Daniel Cooperman will be the new head lawyer at Apple, starting in November.
(Credit: Oracle)Rosenberg was hired in November 2006 after Apple's general counsel position was vacated by the departure of Nancy Heinen in May of that year. Heinen and former Apple CFO Fred Anderson have been implicated by the SEC as the masterminds behind Apple's stock-options backdating problems. Last year, outside investigators hired by Apple did not find any evidence of wrongdoing by current members of Apple's management team, including CEO Steve Jobs.
Cooperman's no stranger to Silicon Valley courtrooms, either, having most recently filed suit against SAP alleging that an SAP subsidiary stole documents from Oracle. But with Jobs facing a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission to testify as part of its case against Heinen, he'll also be busy right off the bat.
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