Another possibility or 2...
This isn't a post about predicting the most probable changes. Nor is it about what I want. Instead it's an ersatz journey into the kind of post in which the spacing of models is considered. Which I consider to be the hardest area in which we sometimes speculate. Just to lenghthen the list of possible developments... Here it is:
The talk of having both 11.6" and 13" models, maybe 2 of each, though nothing but functional logic supports it (no rumors say 2 sizes, and "model spacing theory" suggests "no"), opens up a few thoughts. That and the Jobs "truck/car" metaphor.
LetKs call the current HDD 1.86 model Roman numeral II. And call the current SSD 2.13 model Roman numeral III. Then new models (maybe they're 11.6", maybe 13") are added both one below, and one above. --- Roman numeral "I" is added at the bottom: a model cheaper than currently offered. A little closer to netbook (or at least "car") territory. --- And Roman numeral "IV" is added on top of the lineup: a more fully equipped model. Again maybe 11.6", maybe 13"
4 models. At least during a transitional period. Maybe II & III go away in somewhere from end of 2010 to a few months into 2011 (IIUC from an expert, licensing legalities don't prevent Apple from stockpiling CoreDuo chips made this year, to stick in computers made next year). This sort of lots-of-models-for-a-while could allow Apple to race four different feature-sets against each other, while widening their appeal both higher and lower than the current pair of models.
The new rumor posits, like the DigiTimes rumor, an Apple-predicted increase in sales. Hmmm. The new rumor says higher sales presumably mean cheaper. So, let's say in this transitional I-II-III-IV scheme, the under-$1499. "I" model is the one with the biggest sales, boosting overall volume sold. But... which would be the 2nd-best seller? Apple could wait and see... and use the next several 4-8? months of sales info to determine what the higher model should be like... how high to go? And THEN the Air lineup settles down to just two models... including maybe the cheaper is 11.6" while the luxe model stays 13".
Or maybe it all stays 13"... and they get lazy and keep the same case they have now for everything... changing innards only.
There are limits to --- how fast can they hop to a new chip/set, right? OTOH as I posted about the DigiTimes rumor's volume-for-2010 idea ... if you beleive they'll sell a big number of new Airs by 12-31-2010... the sooner those sales begin, the easier it is to get that number up that high, by year's end. That's the conundrum I can't fathom. How can they have a suitable new chip/set ready so fast - as to start selling at least a luxe "IV" model this or next month? But ... adding an "I" model to the lineup, with more modest "car"-like ambitions, (keeping CoreDuo at least for a while) DOES seem do-able, in the fast time frame mentioned in this new rumor.
