MacBook Air

YEP – Macbook Air.  Check back for more coverage…

• At the iPod refresh launch, one of our sources told us that there wouldn’t be any significant  MacBook refreshes until Macworld.  We published that info in the post-event post.  That info was recorded by Macrumors as "Of interest, they most recently posted a small blurb indicating that MacBook Pros would see updates in January."
• We then got a report with a blurry/dark photograph in September of darker (and standard color), much  smaller Macbook Pros.  Same size screen as the MacBook but way slimmer case, etc.
• Around the new year, someone started alerting the rumors sites that there was going to be a "MacBook Air" product at Macworld.  Also that it was the "worst kept secret at Apple" (which is very suspicious!)  His/her words sound very similar to this Digg commenter.
• Appleinsider and Arstechnica posted pictures of the Macworld posters with the phrase: 2008 There is something in the air
• Macrumors, seeing the correlation between the posters and the earlier rumor submissions posted that they thought the name would be "MacBook Air".  The similarities (assuming here – and whatever other info they might have had) was enough to make the statement on the name.
• We had previously heard that Intel WiMAX teams were all over Apple months and months earlier and thought there might be a connection as well.  This might be the reason why the "Air".  Also Valleywag jumped on this.
• We found a very well done image (above right) and some interesting hypotheses at Macpredictions.com on a MacBook Air – including Power-by induction – which Apple patented a year ago.  Since then, many more images have shown up across the internet.  Macpredictions was certainly the fastest and one of the most professional looking.   He is in London and unconnected to Apple.
• One of our readers, Jon Cotton, found a mention of a "MacBook Air" on one of Adium’s usage log reports.  Subsequent verification from Google Cache reveals that this log entry was made on January 9th, BEFORE the Macworld posters were revealed.  Therefore, someone would have had to have known about the posters and made the reference to "Air"
• UPDATED: MacDailyNews via Macrumors has some very telling domain name information.  IS it possible with the cat out of the bag, Apple is jumping on all of the domains it can?

Therefore we can conclude that there are one of two outcomes:

1. The MacBook Air is real  – our details may be off slightly but the name is real.

2. Either Apple or someone with knowledge of the Macworld 2008 There is something in the air slogan 2 weeks ago sent the rumor sites false info and went to a few websites with public logs with a browser hacked to show "MacBookAir" as machine-type.

Either way, this is very interesting.

So…

Why would they call it "Air"?

Maybe it is the WiMAX?  Or a sub-kilo weight?

Macpredictions thinks that it won’t have any cables.  Induction charging!  Ultra Wideband Bluetooth!  Wireless USB!  Cool if true.  Most likely…notsomuch.

Oh, and here is the one year old Apple patent application on inductive charging if you subscribe to that sort of thing.