SportShell Convertible

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 19 August 2009 11:05:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Marware has released the SportShell Convertible, its latest multi-functional case for the iPhone 3G ...

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KVM Console Adapter ships

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 19 August 2009 11:00:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

StarTech has introduced its KVM Console USB 2.0 Adapter, which essentially turns a users laptop into...

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Padlock Secure Drive ships

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 19 August 2009 08:35:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Apricorn has released its Aegis Padlock Secure Hard Drive, a portable storage system. The drive feat...

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Microsofts Mobile Strategy: Irrelevance

post from Daring Fireball on 19 August 2009 07:36:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Om Malik:

Microsoft is apparently going to counter the Android and iPhone offensives on the mobile market with a new strategy: confusion. The company will allegedly continue to sell its increasingly less relevant Windows Mobile 6.5 for a lower price when it launches version 7 in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The fourth quarter of 2010? I mean, does Redmond expect Google and Apple to go on a yearlong vacation? No wonder Microsoft is becoming irrelevant on the mobile platform.

This is based on a report in DigiTimes from unnamed sources, so I’ll take it with a grain of salt. But it sounds plausible given Microsoft’s confusing, fragmented mobile strategy to date.

(Speaking of which, I’ve heard from a second developer of a popular iPhone app who was approached by Microsoft to port their app to the Zune. They, like my initial source, declined the offer. Keep in mind that the Zune is not Windows Mobile.)

?

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Billing iPhone app

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 19 August 2009 07:30:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Spartadata has released its first iPhone app, Billing: Credit Card Terminal. Similar to other iPhone...

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Twitterrific 2.1 released

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 19 August 2009 07:20:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

The Iconfactory has released v2.1 of its social networking iPhone utility, Twitterrific. The app is ...

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MBP Firmware Update 2.0

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 19 August 2009 07:10:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Apple on Wednesday released Hard Drive Firmware Update 2.0, which addresses issues with 7200-rpm, 50...

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Bose QuietComfort 15

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 19 August 2009 07:05:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

Bose on Wednesday introduced the QuietComfort 15, its latest noise-canceling headphones. The headpho...

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Lack of Netbook, Price Hurting Apple in This
Year’s Back-to-School Market

imacnetbook There’s more evidence that Apple is missing the boat on a substantial market opportunity due to its stubborn stonewall of the small, inexpensive netbook phenomenon. Steve Jobs may have expressed his dismissal of the device category last fall, and acting Apple CEO Tim Cook took the same line by contending that the netbook experience suffers due to “cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, [and] very small screens,” but millions of consumers worldwide disagree — with their wallets.

There are elements of truth in Cook’s critique, but it’s nowhere near as cut-and-dried as he implies. Some netbooks are hopelessly mediocre, but the category also includes very nice machines with “chiclet”-type keyboards (inspired by the MacBook), respectably sized 11″ and 12″ displays, decent hardware quality, and better I/O connectivity than some Apple notebooks. Linux builds (especially Ubuntu) are getting better all the time, to say nothing of the forthcoming netbook version of Windows 7.

In a commentary last April, Computerworld’s Scot Finnie questioned whether any computer maker, even 900-pound gorilla Apple, can afford to ignore the netbook trend. Confirmation seems to be growing that it can’t.

Earlier this week, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Retrevo, a consumer electronics search engine/portal, released a new “Gadgetology” study indicating that 34 percent of students buying laptops are planning to purchase small, lightweight netbooks. Another 49 percent will buy full-sized PC notebooks, but the majority of student laptop shoppers will not consider buying a Mac.

With the rumored Apple iTablet looking more and more like it won’t materialize until the first quarter of 2010, at the earliest, Apple has already missed out on the 2009 back-to-school buying surge, and probably the holiday sales season, too, at least as far as the low-cost market is concerned. Of course, it continues to do very well in the premium, $1,000-and-up laptop category, having just recorded the best non-holiday quarter in its history, selling 2.6 million Macs — most of them laptops.

“While Apple has done well historically in the education market, 2009 marks the dawn of the netbook,” commented Retrevo CEO Vipin Jain. “Students told us they wanted longer battery life, smaller size, and a lighter laptop. Fifty-eight percent of them plan on spending less than $750. All but 18 percent have a budget under $1,000. Netbooks are affordable — some costing only $170. In contrast, Apple laptops start at $949. At a time when many people are experiencing economic hardship, having a new Apple laptop isn’t a necessity.”

Personally, I think the iTablet will have a shot at competing with the netbooks and cheap PC laptops only if it:

a) Includes support for using a real keyboard and mouse (e.g., via Bluetooth or USB) in addition to its built-in touchscreen.

b) Runs the full-featured version of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and not just the stripped-down iPhone OS, and by extension, serious productivity applications.

c) Sells for significantly less than $800. A price of $679 being speculatively floated this week sounds promising.

What do you think? Has Apple missed the boat on this year’s back-to-school laptop-buying surge?

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Snow Leopard Box Set

Apple has allegedly slipped a product listing for a Snow Leopard Box Set, although the page was quic...

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