Breathing In and Liking the Rare Air

If you followed Rob Bushway this weekend on Twitter you probably caught his adventures in an Apple Store and his falling in love with a MacBook Air. As far as I know Rob has reisted the urge to pull the trigger. So far. Also of note is an excellent think piece blogged by Loren Heiny on The Incremental Blogger about how perceptions might be shifting now that folks can grasp the Air in their hands. Here’s a quote:

I’m reading more and more about people proudly showing off their new Air laptops with resounding acceptance.  People like the lightness, the sleekness, the accessibility. The other stuff–you know the high performance stuff–is just not needed in this type of computer.

Yes, the tide it turning.

And my guess is that as thin and mobile become more “in” in the Apple world, so will it be in the Tablet space. And maybe, just maybe Tablets will make it back into retail. They’ll become cool for students to own. They’ll become acceptable as a lead laptop. The market will grow.

I like the jist of what Loren is pointing too, and I would hope he is correct once this plays out in the future. My hesitation is that I think it is far too early to tell if what Loren is predicting/wishing for will happen or not. While I think the early adopters early postive thoughts about the Air will carry some sway, my guess is a few months from now we’ll have a better assessment of how much the impact of the MacBook Air will have. Will it help turn the tide with Tablet PCs. Again, I would hope so.