It’s been almost ten years since Apple retired its successful and popular brand tagline, ‘Think Different’.
Despite officially retiring the slogan long ago, the ethos has nonetheless stuck with the company over the past decade: the first-gen iPod, with its attractive design and ultra-simple interface; the iPhone, which (like it or loathe it) has certainly changed the smartphone landscape; the iPad, which finally succeeded where other tablets had failed; to the breathtakingly thin MacBook Air. Whether you’re a fan of theirs or not, there’s no disputing that Apple has found success in many areas where its rivals are still struggling to catch up.
While its current product line goes from strength to strength, Apple, it seems, isn’t content to rest on its laurels. Citing sources at an ‘anonymous Apple supplier’ in contact with Japanese site macotakara.jp, BGR reports that the company may be on the verge of introducing an entirely new addition to its Mac family of products, one that will be ‘absolutely different’ from its current range.
Macotakara.jp suggests that this new device would be different enough to warrant a new product name, while BGR speculates that it will introduce a new industrial design language, as well as sporting distinctive internal hardware. Electronista takes this a step further, pointing to persistent mutterings that Apple has been testing MacBook Air hardware with ARM processors, and suggests that this might be a logical progression in the gradual convergence of iOS and OS X.
The reports suggest that the new device is set to arrive before the end of 2011 - but for now, this is all very much the stuff of hearsay and rumour. Still, the prospect of a whole new Mac remains an exciting one indeed.