World of Apple

After several weeks of speculation about what exactly a product known as the “brick” could be, 9to5Mac.com has put an end to the speculation.

According to the rumour site the “brick” refers to the manufacturing process that Apple is employing to build the new MacBooks. Previously Apple outsourced the manufacturing to plants such as Foxconn in China but the company has reportedly spent years building its own manufacturing process that uses lasers and jets of to cut out a MacBook shell from a “brick” of aluminium.

9to5Mac goes onto speculate that such a manufacturing process will give Apple significant advantages over its competition including:

• Carving out of aluminum eliminates the need to bend the metal and create weak spots or microfolds and rifts.
• There are no seams in the final product, so it is smooth.
• Screws aren’t needed to tie the products together.
• The shell is one piece of metal so it is super light, super strong and super cheap.
• You can be a whole lot more creative with the design if you don’t have to machine it.

Finally 9to5Mac reminds us that Apple CFO Peter Oppeinheimer recently stated during a conference call that Apple will continue to release innovative products that “Apple’s competitors won’t be able to match”.

Citigroups Richard Gardner is claiming that he has received confirmation that the new MacBooks are shipping to the US from mainland China.

The report which cites “field checks” as the source of information also adding that the new MacBooks have a “very thin aluminium casing, an LED-backlit display and an aggressive entry-level price point.”

Rumours late last week pinpointed October 14th as the date the new MacBooks are expected to be released.

Many Mac users have long been anticipating a complete fresh to Apple’s notebook lineup and past rumours have pointed towards this possibility, now it appears that the updates could be just over one month away.

In a brilliant write-up of yesterday’s music related announcements, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber noted that sources “familiar with Apple’s hardware plans” have pinpointed Tuesday October 14th as the date for new notebooks to be introduced.

Last week analyst Gene Munster wrote a note to clients informing them that Apple would most likely hold a Special Event in September to refresh its iPod lines and MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks.

At the time the report was mainly pinned as speculative but Mac Rumors has heard “whispers” of an iPod touch refresh within the specified timeframe but offers no details above this.

Today also saw another analyst for Piper Jaffray weighing in on the speculation. Mike Olson wrote in a note to clients today that he expects a refresh to the iPod touch in line with the iPhone 3G. In addition Olson expects the starting price of the iPod touch to drop from $299 to $199.

Olson doesn’t mention the MacBook Pro in his report but does report on slimmer MacBooks cryptically explaining “exteriors made of plastic instead of aluminum and could also have a newly designed keyboards”.

This week Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has sent a note to clients speculating on past years. The reports states that for the last three years Apple has held a Special Event in September and the analyst is predicting the same.

Munster in particular expects iPods to be the focus of the event with the iPod shuffle and iPod nano taking a backseat receiving only capacity increases. On the other hand Munster does expect a price cut for the iPod touch down to $199 with a design change similar to that of the iPhone 3G.

In addition to an iPod announcement Munster also expects a complete overhaul of Apple’s notebook line barring the MacBook Air.

“We note that the MacBook has had the same design since its launch over two years ago, and the MacBook Pro has had essentially the same design since its launch over 2.5 years ago, which was very similar in design to the PowerBook G4 released over 5.5 years ago,” he told clients. “To compare, the long-running iMac G5 design lasted three years.”

Munster expects new looks for both the MacBook and MacBook Pro with the MacBook re-entering the $999 price point bracket.

The Jaffray analyst retains a Buy rating on AAPL with a price target of $250.

Last week Apple issued an advisement bulletin to its channel partners noting a production decrease of iPods and certain Mac models. The resulting decrease in production will cause a supply shortage in the coming weeks.

Apple informed resellers that they should place orders for approximately 4 weeks worth of their top selling iPod models adding that supplies could become very limited within the next week.

In addition to warning of iPod shortages Apple also warned resellers to place orders for at least 3 weeks worth of stock for existing Mac notebooks, specifically mentioning the MacBook and MacBook Pro but not the MacBook Air.

Such advisories are usually a good indication of revisions to the mentioned products.

It is being rumoured that the next generation of MacBook will be thinner than the current MacBook and MacBook Pro designs and will also include a glass trackpad and support multi-touch and the use of gestures.

The MacBook is also said to be made of one single piece of aluminium and will bear some resemblance to the MacBook Air.

Finally Seth Weintraub of ComputerWorld writes that he expects the new MacBook to be released in September.

During today’s financial conference call, Apple’s chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer noted that Apple will make a “product transition” during the next quarter.

The comment came after concerns that Apple predicted gross margins of just 30% down from 34.8% in the June quarter. According to Apple a future product transition will cause a drop in gross margins.

The chief was short on details but did explain that price will be a significant driving factor. He continued that Apple often introduces products with new technology at a high price, but seeks to drive the price lower over time.

When referring to the unnamed product the CFO described the product as having “technologies and features that others can’t match”.

In today’s press release Steve Jobs spoke of “several more wonderful new products”.

Apple is widely expected to be revising the MacBook Pro and MacBook in the coming quarter. In addition the company is rumoured to introducing a multi-touch tablet sometime in the future.

Apple is beginning to exhibit signs that a notebook refresh may be close, previous reports have pointed towards Apple revising the MacBook in calendar Q308.

The Chinese publication, Commercial Times is now reporting that Apple has increased orders for “notebook-use printed circuit boards” by up to 2% for the forthcoming quarter (July - September).

In addition to this Mac Rumors is noting that Apple has told Best Buy that they will have limited MacBook shipments over the next two weeks.

Intel confirmed yesterday that it will delay shipments of its upcoming Montevina chipset by as much as two months, with a formal launch in late-August. The delay could push the update to the MacBook notebooks to much later in the year.

“There were two minor issues we found during final testing – one with our integrated graphic chipsets, which we have found a workaround for but need to re-screen our parts, and second around our wireless Wi-Fi chip, which was a paperwork and certification mistake we made,” said Bill Kircos, a spokesman for Intel.

“Both of these led us to establishing a launch date for our mobile processors and discrete chipsets of the week of July 14th, and taking a couple of weeks to get the right readiness and volume for the rest of our components,” Kircos added. “We’re looking at early August for that.”

As a result of the delays Apple is unlikely to begin volume shipments of Montevina based notebooks until much later in the back-to-school buying season.

According to previous reports both the MacBook and MacBook Pro are expected to receive updated looks, the MacBook adopting an aluminium enclosure and the MacBook Pro taking some design hints from the MacBook Air.