What\’s in a Name? Apple’s Reasons for the MacBook Pro

When a leading company changes the name of one of its flagship products, this is always the result of a long period of reflection. But it also represents a new direction, as well as a new strategy. Apple’s announcement on January 10, 2006, of a new laptop called the MacBook Pro is a major change in the company’s portfolio of names. But this new name represents more than a simple change in the moniker of one of Apple’s products. I think that this change portends much to come in the future from Apple.Apple’s PowerBook name dates back to the first laptops the company released in 1991; in fact, my first Mac was a PowerBook 100. The venerable name has been a staple of Apple’s product line through about a decade and a half. Apple added to its notebook line in 1999, when it introduced the iBook, which was an entry-level laptop, and, from that point on, there was a clear distinction between the more affordable models, the iBooks, and the “professional” models, the PowerBooks.

But Apple’s new name, the MacBook Pro makes it clear that the company will soon be releasing a MacBook (sans Pro) for the rest of us–we can probably expect such a computer before the end of the year, also featuring Intel chips, as Apple renews its entire product line.

But I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that this change goes much further. Because the iBook name is a great name. But it would be much better used for something like an ebook reader or tablet. (I have written about this previously here.) There has long been speculation about an Apple tablet, though Steve Jobs has said that no one wants it. (He also said that no one wanted to watch videos or movies on tiny screens, and see what that has led to.) It seems obvious that Apple, who is clearly branching out into consumer electronics with the iPod, will soon be exploring the tablet computer/ebook reader market. And that device will be called the iBook.

With Apple’s current strategy, replacing their processors with Intel processors, which is leading to a complete renewal of its product line, we could see a device like the iBook within the next year–perhaps at the 2007 Macworld Expo? I don’t know for sure, but this makes sense given the direction of the company, and the desires of consumers. I, for one, am looking forward to the tablet computer revolution, and I know that Apple is the ideal company to bring this about.