Business Daily (Nairobi)
Kui Kinyanjui
16 January 2008
Computer maker Apple has unveiled its latest offering, the Macbook Air, that is being touted as the world's thinnest notebook.
Kenyan consumers will be able to buy the laptop - which is small enough to slip into an A4 envelope - in just over a month for an estimated Sh120,000.
"We are preparing for its arrival.
We shall have the MacBook Air in less than two weeks and offer it for sale by the end of February," said Riyaz Kurji, the managing director of Elite Digital Solutions.
Elite, a premier Apple reseller for the regional market, says it has already started a customer sensitisation programme to let Kenyan consumers get a feel for the gadget, which was officially launched just two days ago by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
The MacBook Air will make for a more expensive choice of machinery than other models available in the market.
Elite and three other authorised Apple resellers in the country are banking on post-iPhone euphoria, a gradual shift in preference towards the brand and more style conscious consumers to drive sales of the gadget.
"We have seen a lot of interest in the iPhone since its launch. Although we are not able to sell it yet, we have heard reports that several have already made their way into the country. Our waiting list is already very long," said Mr Kurji.
Users will be attracted to MacBook Pro's slim design, as well as a raft of other unique features such as relatively stable battery life and high specifications.
"MacBook Air is ultra thin, ultra portable, and ultra unlike anything else. But you don't lose inches and pounds overnight. It's the result of rethinking conventions," said Apple of the new product.
Its manufacturers say the computer is less than an inch thick at its thickest point, managing to beat the thinnest section of its nearest competitor - the Sony Vaio TZ.
Notably, the notebook has no optical disc drive, which means it can not play CDs or DVDs. Users will be forced to buy an external drive to play discs.
Analysts say Apple's deliberate omission of the drive, signifies the company is keen to ride on changing trends which have seen consumers adopt more wireless capabilities.
Featuring a slightly wedge-shaped profile, the device weighs about three pounds and has a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display.
MacBook Air offers a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support, letting users pinch, rotate and swipe.
The new notebook is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and it includes as standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1.
Meanwhile, Apple Inc will start renting movies over the Internet, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said on Tuesday, moving the iPhone and iPod maker into a very competitive market.
With Web movie rentals, Apple takes on DVD-by-mail rental service Netflix Inc, which also allows online viewing, as well as a host of others eager to make it possible to watch movies easily and instantly over the Web.
Investors who had expected both developments after widespread speculation, sent shares of Apple down more than five per cent to $169.62 in afternoon trading.
Netflix was down 5.18 per cent to $21.59 and Blockbuster Inc, the largest video rental chain, was down 14 percent to $2.78.
Apple has had huge success with its iPod music players and more recently its iPhone communications device.
Jobs said iPhone sales had hit four million since their release last year, and that the Macbook Air laptop had been eagerly anticipated.
(Additional reporting by Reuters)
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