seanlong.orgposted on: March 10, 2009
Imagine if Apple made a netbook sized enclosure that you slide your iPhone/iPod Touch into and it turns the device into a netbook. The enclosure could house; a screen, keyboard, trackpad (use the iPhone/iPod Touch screen), extended battery, speakers, SD card slot, usb port(s) all connected to the devices dock connector. The beauty of this is that the iPhone/iPod Touch already contains the most expensive bits.
Will Apple do something like this? I don't know. But if any one company could pull it off it would be Apple, they do control the stack top to bottom.
Pros:
- Fast boot
- Apple controls hardware and software, so doable
- Mature App Store could be expanded for "netbook" apps. Ex. A full version of Safari, TextEdit, Preview, Terminal etc
- Built in cell data service and/or WiFi
Cons:
- Hard to answer your phone when docked in netbook, Bluetooth headset could remedy
- Apple would probably charge too much, and require a new version with each iPhone/iPod Touch change
- Cell partners may not like the surge in data usage
- The extended battery may need to be quite big enough to power the larger screen
