Whether you love them or hate them, Apple has a tendency to cause wide ripples when they enter the market space with a new product. The iPod and iTunes redefined the consumer end of the music business. The iPhone and the App Store completely altered market expectations of what a cell phone is supposed to do for you, and how software is developed and sold. In both cases, the devices caused an industry realignment around me-too campaigns.
So, rumors are a-flyin’ about two new developments which are not as interesting from the Apple product perspective as they are from the field-changing potential. They are expected in the second half of this year.
The first is an iPhone-lite, smaller and thinner than the present iPhone. What’s interesting about this is that the deal negotiations are with Verizon, which means that Apple intends to open up its market penetration by providing different products from its line-up to different carriers. This may also be a preemptive strike against the Palm Pre, which is the only strong contender against the iPhone and in active talks with Palm.
The second is something without a name other than some kind of “media pad”, which has been reported to be smaller than an Amazon Kindle, but with a larger touchscreen than the Kindle’s screen. It is rumored to be something on which you’d play music, HD movies, and photos. But think about it a minute. That’s the nominal description of an iPod Touch (except for HD), but with the App Store, the iPod Touch is much more than that. It’s a facebook client, an ebook reader, a calendar keeper, a web browser, and (with the Skype app) a phone. Plus, it’s rumored that this will also be distributed through Verizon Wireless, which means that the wireless network connection would be much more than just wifi zones. 
We’ve pooh-poohed here the notion of an Apple netbook, as that term is usually understood — a low-cost, low-capability, traditional format laptop. But we’ve also said that this doesn’t rule out a new breed of device that starts a new wave of “we can make that too” hysteria and changes the industry. In this case, what it may well mean is a significant change in what is sold in the Electronics department at WalMart, as well as what’s sold in wireless stores like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and so on. It may not be long before you’re headed to the Verizon Wireless store to buy a computer for your kid going to college in the fall.
11:59 to 12:01 