Published in AI

Apple falls behind in laptop race

by on23 March 2010

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Too busy pushing the iPhone/iPad


Apple fanboys
must be starting to wonder if Jobs' Mob has decided abandon its laptop range. With the tame Apple press pushing press releases that are full of yarns about the iPad, iPhone and dull applications that can run on the gizmos, the notebooks have been languishing undeveloped. While we can understand that Apple finds it difficult to be that much of a control freakish company and get more than one product out at a time the MacBook Pro is being flogged with an outdated Intel Core 2 Duo processor under the bonnet.

Meanwhile other PC makers, who in the Apple fanboy fantasy, are supposed to be copying Apple have nice new notebooks with Intel’s new Core i3/i5/i7 processors. In fact MacBook Pros were last updated on June 8, 2009, 287 days ago. Normally the entire lifecycle of an Apple range is 200 days. There could be a number of reasons for this ranging from Apple does not care about its laptops these days when there is more cash to be made peddling variants of the iPhone to the fact it can't come up with anything new.

Apologists have been spreading a rumour that it is all caused by a shortage of chips. While it is true that Intel has not made enough chips for the home buyer market it has said that there are plenty there for those who ordered in time. Since Apple was accused of buying up too much hardware inventory it seems unlikely that it would have skimped on the chips. Besides Intel considers Apple is chum and has given Jobs' Mob first call on its chips in the past.

Intel has specifically said that it is giving priority to major clients, which should include the Mac maker, leaving second-tier and smaller notebook makers in the waiting line.

So the question is then why have Apple not been keen to announce any more laptops? The real answer is probably that the entire organisation is paralysed unto it is clear that the iPad is a success or not. Selling expensive computers is not as lucrative as selling services on the back of expensive mobile gear. If the iPad takes off then it could indicate a new direction for Apple.
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