Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs unveiled a lighter MacBook Air laptop and a version of the Macintosh operating system called Lion, saying he was drawing inspiration from Apple’s touch-screen mobile devices.
Macs will soon have an application store, similar to the App Store for the iPhone and iPad, Jobs said today at an event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. New computers also will take better advantage of multitouch gestures on track pads, mimicking the interface on Apple’s iOS, which runs mobile products. The app store will open within 90 days, and Lion will be released in the summer of 2011.
“We’ve been inspired by some of the work we’ve done on iOS, and want to bring them back to the Mac,” Jobs said.
Apple is using the popularity of its iPhone and iPad tablet to bolster demand for its oldest product, the Macintosh. Sales of the computers rose 22 percent to $4.87 billion last quarter, making up 24 percent of revenue. More than half of Mac purchases in the company’s retail stores in the most recent period were from first-time buyers.
“I don’t hear enough people talking about the halo effect,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners LP in New York. He recommends buying the stock. “As more customers are being exposed to Apple products, they are spending more of their computer dollars on Apple.”
‘Hooking Up’
The new MacBook Air, which is 0.68 of an inch (less than 2 centimeters) at its thickest point, combines features of the iPad with a notebook, Jobs said. The computer’s battery lets users surf the Web wirelessly for seven hours. In standby mode, the battery can last 30 days. Like the iPad, there’s no hard- disk drive or CD-ROM, just flash memory. It weighs 2.3 to 2.9 pounds, depending on the model.
“We asked ourselves, ‘What would happen if a MacBook and an iPad hooked up?’ Well, this is the result,” he said. “We think it’s the future of notebooks.”
The new Air comes in two versions: a 13.3-inch model costs $1,299 to $1,599, depending on the amount of memory, while the 11.6-inch product starts at $999.
Apple sold a record 3.89 million Macs in the fourth quarter, a 27 percent increase from last year. The gains helped Apple nudge aside Acer Inc. to become the No. 3 U.S. PC seller in the period that ended in September, behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC. Apple’s best-selling product is the iPhone.
‘Incredible Momentum’
The Mac has gained market share for 18 straight quarters and now has an installed base of almost 50 million, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said at the event.
“It’s incredible momentum,” he said.
Apple’s retail stores had 75 million visitors in the past fiscal year, which ended in September, Cook said. Its Chinese stores, which opened in the past two years, are drawing the heaviest traffic, he said.
The company also introduced a new version of its media software, iLife 11. The update adds features for handling video, photos and music, and is more tightly integrated with Facebook. The collection of programs includes iPhoto, which now makes it easier to e-mail photos and turn pictures into books and cards.
