Thoughts on ARM powered Macs

There has been a fair amount of discussion and speculation on when or if Apple could build a Mac computer with a CPU designed around an ARM core.  The A-series of CPUs that power the iPhone and iPad are designed around an ARM core, as are the CPUs of virtually all smartphones and tablets and millions of other devices.  Most laptop and desktop computers are built around an x86 CPU from Intel or AMD, whether they run Windows, OS X, Linux, or some other OS.  The ARM powered Mac discussion seems to center around benchmarking Apple's current A-series CPU against an Intel CPU and pointing out how Apple's designs are inferior to Intel's.  However, I think these discussions may be missing the point. Rather than predicting when an ARM CPU may be powerful enough for a Macbook as we know it, I'd rather speculate on what type of device Apple could build around a state of the art A-series CPU.  Could they build a laptop that would perform similar functions to a Chromebook?  How about an 'iPad Pro' with more productivity features that could replace a laptop for some people?

An ARM based laptop would have to forego a lot of legacy technology, but Apple has never been shy about doing this.  I can imagine a device with only the same I/O as an iPad, meaning no USB or Thunderbolt connectors, video outputs, or SD card readers.  The Lightning port could be used for charging and some peripherals, but anything else would be connected over wifi or bluetooth.  This device could run apps from the App Store.  It wouldn't be able to run OS X apps from the Mac App Store or boot to Windows.  It could feature a more usable multitasking interface than iOS does currently.  It may not even have a touchscreen.  This device could be even thinner and lighter than a Macbook Air and get better battery life.  I'd imagine the starting price would be somewhere around $750.

An 'iPad Pro' would be more than just a larger iPad.  It could feature native support for keyboards (whether attached as part of an official case or through bluetooth), the ability to view two apps at once, and improved multitasking.  It would be used primarily as a tablet with touchscreen input, but the keyboard could be used for typing, navigation, gaming, etc if the user desired.  I'd also see this device starting at around $750.

Maybe these two devices could even be the same thing.  I believe the point is this:  if Apple were to introduce an ARM powered Mac they wouldn't try to cram all of the Macbook's legacy ports, backwards compatibility, etc into it.  They'd design a device from the ground up for a specific set of use cases.  Just like the iPad is fully capable of replacing a laptop for some small portion of users, an ARM-powered device with native keyboard support could replace a laptop for many more.

Are smartwatches missing potential markets in women and tablet owners?

Several smartwatches have launched recently, but they fail to answer a fundamental question:  why do I need this?  Imagine a potential buyer asking a retail employee questions about smartwatches:  It doesn't do anything my smartphone can't do already?  I need to charge it every day?  My phone needs to be nearby for it to work?  It costs $200+? Essentially, the only benefit current smartwatches have is to reduce the number of times per day a user pulls a smart watch out of his or her pocket to check why it just buzzed.  I do see a potential market that would value getting notifications on their wrist:  people that carry their phone in a bag, such as women and people that use a large phablet or tablet as a phone.

I've previously used an iPad Mini as a phone and would have liked to get notifications on my wrist while the iPad was in my backpack.  This may sound like a very niche market, but apparently is a trend in Asia, and I can see it catching on in the US with the introduction of larger iPhones.  I'd imagine women that carry their phone in a bag would also appreciate getting notifications on their wrist.  However, today's smartwatches are big, ugly, and don't give users much control over what does or doesn't get sent to their wrist.  Maybe the Moto 360 and next-gen smartwatches will begin appealing to these market segments.

Apple + IBM + iWatch. Huge opportunity?

Last month I read a very interesting article on Techpinions by Tim Bajarin.  Tim recounted his recent family trip to Disney World and explained how they use RFID wristbands to manage access to the park and hotel rooms and even pay for meals once linked with a credit card.  Tim thought this type of functionality could be one of the pillars of Apple's upcoming iWatch.  I was reminded of the article this week when Apple and IBM announced their enterprise partnership. I can imagine a world where enterprises deploy thousands of wristbands to employees instead of RFID employee badges.  IBM would write enterprise or even company-specific applications and Apple would supply the hardware.  Maybe they wouldn't even be wristbands at all, they could be a little dongle worn around the neck or clipped to a pocket.  This could enable all sorts of other features:

• automatic locking and unlocking of laptops and tablets based on proximity (or a factory worker's machinery or UPS driver's truck ignition)
• step tracking to determine efficiency of building/warehouse/factory layout
• step tracking could also be used to give a high-level view of employee activity while in the office

Apple and IBM have a huge opportunity in the enterprise outside of just iPhones, iPads, and productivity applications.  I don't know the enterprise software and services industry well enough to determine if IBM was the best partner, but they're clearly a capable one with sufficient scale to make a meaningful push into the enterprise.