Ok, the Apple keynote is coming up and I’ve been checking out the usual rumor mills among other highly regarded Apple sites and I’ve come away with the feeling that everyone is missing something. Normally, I wouldn’t use my blog for speculation, but I can’t shake it—it seems so obvious to me! There are rumors aplenty that Apple is going to release an ultraportable notebook (or subnotebook) and some even think that it’s a bad idea. But a subnotebook would be so… well, Sony, not Apple. It wouldn’t ceate a new product category the way that Apple likes to do (see Newton, iMac, iPod, iPhone). Moreover, Steve Jobs has said that he was more than just intrigued with the iPhone’s touchscreen capabilities—that he could see the technology influencing the entire line of Apple products. And I think it’s precisely the touchscreen technology’s influence that all the subnotebook rumors are missing—namely because they all have keyboards! ((Well, not everyone, sort of.)) Imagine instead, a big Nintendo DS—a subnotebook with two screens. These screens operate in tandem so that documents and windows can be spread across them, or one or the other can become an input device (a keyboard being just one of those). That’s my prediction, at any rate. And at least part of the reason that I feel like it’s not too wild is because Apple’s been after this device for a while. It might’ve been a Sculley-era Apple vision, but Jobs is the only who could make it a reality. Regardless, the keynote will still be valuable.

You know, it’s just rude to have a comments link on your article but close the comments (or render it inoperable) and not state that somewhere on the page. I clicked on the stupid link several times before giving up when nothing happened. Whatever, the web is a rude place. I’m used to it. The point is Ross Rubin wrote (in aforementioned rude article) that he believes Apple needs to include Flash support as part of the iPhone. He makes a good argument, and it looks like Apple is going to do it; but I think there are still two two key issues that the no-flash complaints are missing: Can Apple do it without Adobe and the fact that the Flash plugin is crap. ((Not Flash itself. I am a HUGE fan of Flash the media. I’m talking about the program that renders Flash in the browser. It blows.)) Read more…

I found this entry from Chris Anderson over at The Long Tail regarding how he sees an explosion in market space (read: used-to-be-shelf-space) online causing a lot of trouble for brands. I don’t disagree with his conclusion that tastemakers (i.e. Oprah, Martha Stewart, Paris Hilton) will be more important or that many companies will decline in marketshare as information in the market increases and the number of competitors increases but I disagree that they all will.

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