Apple Works Hard to Keep its Mojo

Home runs like the iPod and the iPhone have helped Apple gain computer market share without making big sacrifices on price. Now, with rumors swirling about Apple's new iSlate product, I wonder whether Apple has realized that it must do something drastic in the computing space to continue to have its cake and eat it too.

After learning of Google's anticipated foray into the operating system space with a lean, browser-based OS for netbooks (which I warned of when Google first launched its Chrome browser), most of the chatter I heard was about Google's impending face-off with Microsoft. Yes, the OS is the spot where Google can hurt Microsoft the most, but Microsoft is equipped to defend itself with its own lean, netbook-friendly Windows 7. The real story, in my mind, is whether Apple can continue to churn out relevant products in the increasingly commoditized computing space. There's no question about consumers' insatiable hunger for Apple's products, but is the intensity of that fanfare enough to keep customers coming back for premium-priced gadgets?

If Apple were a small, privately held company it could afford to scale back its ambitions a bit. However, the reality is that the company needs to fiercely defend and expand its market share to please investors. But how can Apple do that if Google and Microsoft are delivering decent products with sleek software in the $500 range? Posed a different way, how can Apple hope to grow while still selling computers in the $1,000+ range?

Well, this may be where products like iSlate come in. What is thought to be called the iSlate will likely sell just south of the ever-important $1,000 mark.

Does Apple expect to gain new customers who want a lighter, cheaper, more mobile computer, while hoping to hold onto its existing Macbook fan base? Does it expect to gain incremental sales from existing customers who use an iMac and just can't do without the pretty new iSlate for mobile purposes?

No matter how you slice it, Google and Microsoft are staging a game that Apple is reluctant to play. It will be interesting to see how Apple plays its new product launch, and to what extent it attempts to change the rules of the game in 2010.