5 things to know: MacBook / iPad hybrid unit?
The rumor mills are buzzing now that the details of Apple’s latest patent have been released
After being granted a unique patent, it appears as though Apple is ready to jump on the PC/tablet hybrid unit bandwagon.
View of Apple’s patent that displays, on top, an illustration of the laptop computer with a clutch barrel in which to house antenna structures and, on the bottom, a close-up view of the portable electronic device housing and its associated antenna structures.(Credit: patentlyapple.com)
Here are five things you should know about this story:
1. The patent
According to Jack Purcher of PatentlyApple.com,[1] Apple was recently granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a telephonic MacBook with rotatable display. The patent details a “clutch barrel structure housing” that includes within it two differing cellular antenna types to carry 3G capabilities and provide telephonic services for a MacBook. The second part of the patent details a hinge structure that would allow the MacBook to “rotate relative to the base of the laptop computer.”
It’s being hypothesized that that this patent would, essentially, allow a MacBook user to remove the screen of the laptop and use it as a tablet.
2. The Intel Ultrabook factor
Some are pointing to the upcoming launch of improved Intel Ultrabook units, which are going to be released over the next few years, as being Apple’s main competition in this field for the foreseeable future. As the timeline stands right now, early next year Intel will introduce units featuring the company’s upgraded Ivy Bridge processor (faster speeds, better power management, etc.) A third generation, slated for 2013, will feature the highly-anticipated Haswell processor, which is expected to have all of the benefits of the Ivy Bridge processor, use half the power of today’s laptops, and also feature Windows 8 with its touchscreen-enabled Metro interface.
3. The idea of a PC/tablet hybrid unit isn’t ground-breaking stuff
This might shock a few people, but it’s true. PC/tablet hybrid units have actually been around for a few years now. One need not look any further than Asus’s Eee Pad Transformer[2] and Dell’s Windows and Droid[3] units to see how far along they already are.
4. Jobs’ influence
This is not Apple’s first attempt at making a PC/tablet hybrid unit. They’ve actually been doing this since 2008. It was on this note that Purcher made a very interesting point based upon Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs: that Jobs always liked to have two competing teams work on the same project, but with completely different approaches.
Purchers points out that in 2008 a team of Apple designers were granted a patent for a telephonic MacBook that had a slide mechanism for the tablet. With this latest patent, another team working on the exact same concept came up with the rotatable display as an alternative solution for the tablet. With both teams looking to achieve the same result, the company can best choose the most effective solution.
5. This is not a definite thing (not yet at least)
Since Apple first started working on this concept in 2008, it has filed numerous other patent applications for this concept. What does this all mean? The design teams are actively trying to perfect the telephonic MacBook.
Will this latest patent be the absolute solution the company seeks? Only time will tell. ■
References
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