October 9th, 2008
Apple makes it official. Notebook announcement next week.
The blogosphere was abuzz this morning with news of a sub-$1,000 Mac notebook - based on a price list that was given to retail stores (and subsequently leaked to bloggers). But where’s the confirmation from Apple? The company wouldn’t announce some sort of milestone - and a sub-$1,000 notebook is a milestone - without summoning the tech press to an event, right? (update below)
And then, at 9:05 a.m. this morning, the invitation landed in my inbox:
The tech press has been summoned to Apple HP in Cupertino next Tuesday. And we know this much: the announcement has to do with notebooks. Are they $800 notebooks? No confirmation on that.
But I’ll be sure to let you know next Tuesday.
What to expect and what not to expect.
Following the release of Apple’s invitation, Piper Jaffray issued a statement regarding the announcement.
- Expect the news - obviously, a MacBook-focused announcement - to be a positive for Apple stock.
- Expect a price range for the new MacBook to be between $899-$999, a 9-18 percent drop from current prices.
- Expect a redesigned MacBook Pro.
- Do not expect a new product to be added to the MacBook family.
- Do not expect a touchscreen Tablet Mac, despite speculation that the iPhone’s touchscreen technology will eventually be integrated into notebooks.
Piper Jaffray also highlighted what it considers to be the most and least important news from the event:
Most Important: Higher Quality, Lower-Priced MacBooks. We believe that the biggest news from the event will surround the entry-level MacBook product (currently $1,099 in white or black plastic). We expect the new MacBooks to be cheaper ($899-$999). However, it is likely that the new MacBooks will be a more premium product (with new aluminum casing and gesture-based touchpad). In other words, we expect the new MacBooks to be a meaningful upgrade with an ASP 9% to 18% lower.
Less Important: New MacBook Pros. We also expect Apple to introduce redesigned MacBook Pros at the same or slightly lower price. The current MacBook Pro design was introduced almost 3 years ago at $1,999. The new MacBook Pro will likely be redesigned, and may carry a $1,899 price tag. It is likely that the new model will be thinner and will include a more sophisticated gesture-based touchpad. We also expect Apple to introduce new MacBook Airs with updated specs.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
| 10/09/08
