Something in the Air…

Apple’s banners all around Moscone proclaiming that there’s “Something in the Air” have left us all guessing as to what Apple might have up its sleeve come Tuesday. One thing is for sure, those banners are referring to Apple’s single biggest announcement coming out of the Keynote. maybe.

Last year there was a slogan that had us all guessing, something about as generic as “Something in the Air” (so forgettable I can’t remember it), and it ended up having nothing to do with the introduction of the iPhone. My money still says that Apple didn’t know until days before the keynote that they would definitely be announcing the iPhone at that time, hence the generic banners.

Could easily be the same deal this time, meaning that the slogan tells us nothing.

But without getting into the wordplay, I can’t help but think that it points in a fairly obvious direction. Apple spent the second half of 2007 updating and revamping nearly every major product they had, and simply put, it’s too soon to be making any real changes to any of them again. The only possible exception would be the iPhone, which hasn’t changed since its June rollout (or for that matter its January introduction), but the iPhone still needs too much help software-wise for Apple to be rolling out a major new iPhone model, I think. We may see spec boosts on the iPhone, but that’s it.

It’s almost as if Apple has backed itself into a corner this time, with nothing new to update, nothing to trot out as a substitute should the planned big announcement fall through and not be ready at the last minute. It seems as if Apple knows it has something big, something definite, something that’s been planned for awhile now.

And I’m convinced that it’s a whole new kind of product. I mean really, what else could it be? Lots of folks think we’re going to see a 3G iPhone, and while that’s entirely possible, it seems doubtful for so many reasons. The iPhone’s battery life is sub-acceptable as it is, and unless Apple is planning on releasing a new 3G iPhone that’s either A) sporting a two-hour battery life, or B) sigificantly larger in order to fit a bigger battery, we’re not seeing 3G this week.

You want more evidence? Look at the fact that not only did Apple roll out an EDGE-based iPhone in the UK, where EDGE barely exists, they’re spending money to have additional EDGE network installed over there. Does this sound like the actions of a company that’s been planning to ditch EDGE for 3G all along? I doubt it.

I think Apple knows something about the EDGE network that we don’t. Apple knows that while EDGE’s speeds at this time are merely acceptable (and not nearly as bad as pundits had made EDGE out to be pre-launch), there’s something coming down the pike, something about the EDGE network that makes it a winner in the long run. That’s simple enough: greater network speed. But Apple’s been acting like they know this is coming.

In fact, I get the funny feeling that Apple is every bit as married to EDGE as it is to AT&T itself. And as someone who’s used my iPhone on the network so often while out and about that I freak out when I reach the rare circumstance (on the subway, for instance) where I CAN’T get to my email. The whole game has changed for me, and the fact that my MacBook can only get on the internet when in range of someone’s WiFi network is now suddenly and completely unacceptable.

So here’s what I think: there’s been an awful lot of talk about a sub-notebook version of the MacBook, a little flash-based three pound, ten incher with no hard drive or optical drive, or whatever they have to do to get it that small. And if the whole point of such a device is that you can take it with you anywhere, then there’s not really much point to it at all if you don’t have network access when you get there.

Apple’s already married to AT&T, so the infrastructure is there for this. And while the instinct might be to think that such a device would put too much demand on the network, let’s be reminded that the iPhone is already downloading the same size web pages and email messages as any full-sized computer is. You know where I’m going with this: a Mac subnotebook with built-in support for EDGE network.

Already an AT&T customer? Just add $20 a month extra for EDGE access on your sub-MacBook. Already have an iPhone? You don’t even have to pay anything extra; it’s the same account. Not currently an AT&T customer? You’re about to become one, because otherwise there’s really no point to the device. And that last part will serve as AT&T’s motivation for wanting to go along with it.

This idea is nothing new for those uber-geeks who have been plugging EVDO cards into their MacBook Pros and PowerBooks before that. But you see, by building the cell network structure into the sub-MacBook right off the shelf, by spoon-feeding the idea to the masses, this is something that the general pubic would actually partake in, as opposed to the geekiest one percent whipping out their EVDO cards and bragging about how they’re the only one in the room with internet access.

We’ve had WiFi for nearly a decade now, and I’m always surprised at how many “regular folks” still have the false expectation that a “wireless” laptop is magically going to be able to pull down an internet signal anywhere, anytime, simply by having a wireless card installed (ran into one this past Friday, in fact). The general public wants a “wireless laptop” that can indeed access the internet anytime and anywhere they please, and you know what? As with the iPhone, the geeks will squawk about not liking EDGE, not liking how “dumbed-down” the whole idea is, but then they’ll fall in line as well.

So that’s my interpretation of what “Something in the Air” actually refers to: a sub-notebook with built-in EDGE network. The true jewel will be the hardware itself, but the hype angle will be that you can automatically use it to get on the internet anywhere you can get cellphone reception.

Either that, or there’s always the song “Something in the Air” by Thunderclap Newman…