Thoughts on a Theoretical Future Mac mini

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With an iPhone announcement less than a week away, I thought it would be fun to take a break from thinking about iOS devices and consider Apple’s cheap desktop computer — the Mac mini.

Here’s the insides of the current model, courtesy of iFixit:

Mac mini (Late 2012) - iFixit

And here’s the always-cool exploded view:

Mac mini (Late 2012) Exploded View

The original Mac mini from 2005 was 6.5 inches wide and 6.5 inches deep. While the Mid–2012 model is .6 inches shorter, it’s actually deeper and wider, with a footprint of 7.7 inches by 7.7 inches.

Looking at the tear downs (and having taken apart a ton of these things over the years), it’s easy to understand what drove the shape and layout of the early Mac minis: the optical drive.

You don’t even have to see the inside of the machine to understand why:

Mac mini - Optical drive

Even though Apple removed the optical drive from the Mac mini two years ago, the machine continues to retain the same shape and external dimensions. The logic board and 2.5-inch hard drives are now the largest components in the machine.

Looking at what Apple has done with the MacBook Air, it’s easy to imagine what the company could do with the Mac mini.

I can imagine a Mac mini the size of an eyeglass case or even the AppleTV, powered by the same low-voltage chipset, SSD module and soldered-on RAM as the MacBook Air.

Apple has sold a “Mac mini with OS X Server” product for several years. A smaller, cooler and more efficient machine could open the door to new and interesting uses in the home and enterprise alike.

(And just think what it could do for the guys at macminicolo.)

There are, of course, reasons Apple may leave the Mac mini as-is for now. The Mac mini boasts far many more I/O options than the Air, meaning its logic board is more complex and there is more space needed for ports. The Mac mini sports an internal power supply, which takes space as well.

Then there’s the storage question. Currently, the standard Mac mini comes with a 500GB (5400 RPM) hard drive, but can be upgraded to support two 1TB hard drives. Apple will add a 256GB SSD from the factory to enable its Fusion Drive technology. With two 2.5-inch bays available, custom options are basically endless.

If Apple were to equip the Mac mini with MacBook Air-like SSD modules to help shrink the chassis, this flexibility would be lost.

The biggest problem I see is that of pricing. The Mac mini has always been cheap. While it no longer sits at the $499 price point as it once did, the base model is still incredibly affordable at just $599. While modern Mac minis can be quite powerful, the entry-level machine isn’t all that great.

In the past, Apple has cut corners to keep the mini cheap. Low RAM configurations are par for the course. A Core Solo configuration was for sale for a while, making the Mac mini the only machine to ship from Apple with that chipset.

My guess is that migrating the Mac mini to a more modern architecture would limit the company’s flexibility when it comes to pricing.

While I would love to see a faster, smaller Mac mini on the market, it’s clear to me that there are some roadblocks Apple will need to deal with. While none of them are deal-breakers, we may be dreaming of a new mini for a while.

Mac mini (Late 2012)

Writing On The iPad ⇢

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My friend Federico Viticci just published his first book:

An extended edition of an article originally published on MacStories.net, “Writing On The iPad: Text Automation with Editorial” contains an in-depth review and detailed guide to Editorial, a revolutionary Markdown text editor for iPad with unique automation features. After reading this book, you’ll have a new perspective on what is possible to accomplish on an iPad with Markdown and text automation.

It’s on sale for just $2.99, and it’s great. Go check it out.

On The Omni Group, the Mac App Store and Paid Upgrades

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Ken Case:

My apologies: I’m afraid we will not be able to offer upgrade pricing to our Mac App Store customers after all. So long as we continue to sell our apps through the Mac App Store, we are not allowed to distribute updates through other channels to apps which were purchased from the App Store.

The program Case is referring to was called OmniKeyMaster. Here’s what it did:

OmniKeyMaster is a simple app that finds App Store copies of Omni apps installed on your Mac, then generates equivalent licenses from our store – for free. This gives Mac App Store customers access to discounted pricing when upgrading from the Standard edition to Professional, or when upgrading from one major version to the next. Another benefit: since they don’t have to wait in an approval queue, our direct releases sometimes get earlier access to new features and bug fixes. OmniKeyMaster lets App Store customers access those builds, as well.

The Mac App Store inherited the lack of upgrade pricing from the iOS App Store. Of course, the Mac’s ability to install software from third-parties means users and developers are used to far more freedom than Apple allows in the Store.

While I think Apple should add upgrade pricing to both App Stores, it’s downright ridiculous that Mac developers are expected to ship updates for free.

Here’s Case again, from today’s post:

We will continue to ask Apple to support upgrade pricing in the App Store, and I would encourage others to do the same—but until that happens, upgrade pricing will only be available to customers who buy our apps direct from our online store.

I don’t think anyone should be holding their breath on that one.

All that said, Case and company should have foreseen this being a problem. Omni has — for years — charged for upgrades. Did they think Apple would suddenly change their policy? If so, that’s pretty short-sighted and frankly, surprising.

Even if The Omni Group just woke up and realized the situation they were in, they attempted to handle it well. The OmniKeyMaster program seemed easy-to-use for customers, which is critical anytime a “cross-grade” is at play.

While Case doesn’t come out and say that Apple shut OmniKeyMaster down, it’s pretty easy to read between the lines.

It’s important to note that The Omni Group is not the only company that has tried to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to this. It’ll be interesting to see if Apple continues to draw a line in the sand on this topic.

While The Omni Group is probably big enough to walk away from the Mac App Store, a lot of developers are enjoying a level of success in the Store that they couldn’t enjoy without it. Apple shouldn’t use that to strong-arm developers from trying to workaround the system. That puts both Apple and third-party developers in a pretty crappy spot.

Update: Shortly after posting, Ken Case pinged me on Twitter. You can view our conversation here. It’s clear to me after our exchange that The Omni Group knew this would be an issue, but attempted to do right by their App Store customers. Apple should allow them to do so.

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On Microsoft, Nokia and Making Your Own Hardware

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Microsoft PR:

Building on this successful partnership, we announced some important news today: an agreement for Microsoft to purchase Nokia’s Devices & Services business, to deliver more choices, faster innovation, and even more exciting devices and services to our customers.

Today’s agreement will accelerate the momentum of Nokia’s devices and services, bringing the world’s most innovative smartphones to more people, while continuing to connect the next billion people with Nokia’s mobile phone portfolio.

With the commitment and resources of Microsoft to take Nokia’s devices and services forward, we can now realize the full potential of the Windows ecosystem, providing the most compelling experiences for people at home, at work and everywhere in between.

It’s no secret that Nokia has hung its hat on Windows Phone, and today’s announcement will bring the company’s hardware and services divisions under Microsoft’s command. Nokia president — and former Microsoft executive — Stephen Elop will run the new group for Redmond.

Microsoft’s Terry Myerson:

Today’s announcement doesn’t change that – acquiring Nokia’s Devices group will help make the market for all Windows Phones, from Microsoft or our OEM partners.

Myerson goes on to write:

Our OS group mission is to enable the innovations of our hardware partners to shine through on the Windows platform. We collaborate with our Microsoft hardware teams in the same way we partner with our external hardware partners: we discreetly discuss technical and business opportunities, make shared bets, empower each other to do great work, and then operate closely together to delight our shared customers. We look forward to building new products together that will provide valuable business opportunity for the ecosystem and enable OEMs to deliver huge value to their customers, from consumers to the largest enterprise.

In short, Myerson views Windows Phone and Windows as very similar in this regard. The company makes the core product, while encouraging OEMs to innovate in key areas.

Google’s purchase of Motorola comes immediately to mind when thinking about this news. Google bought Motorola a while back, and with the Moto X, has partnered with them to build a product, but the most popular Android phones are built by Samsung.

That’s not the case with Windows Phone, however. Nokia has outpaced its rivals in the Windows Phone marketshare race. When people think about Windows phones, the Lumia line comes to mind. That wasn’t the case when Google bought Motorola. They weren’t on top.

I have no doubt that Microsoft will still allow OEMs to ship Windows Phone phones (sigh), but my guess it that HTC and others will begin to slowly back away from Windows Phone, leaving Microsoft as the only hardware vendor by default.

While I generally think that Apple’s complete control of hardware and software is a good thing, I’m not sure Microsoft is the type of company that can handle both ends of things. The Xbox is a huge success, but other such projects (Zune, Kin, etc.) have not been.

There’s an Alan Kay quote that has been floating around today:

People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.

That, of course, is the philosophy subscribed to by Apple, but I don’t think it yet fully applies to Microsoft.

Is having Nokia employees wearing Microsoft badges enough to change that? Perhaps. Time will tell, but I’m hopeful.

Nintendo in Crisis ⇢

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John Siracusa:

A lot of things have to go right for Nintendo to get its mojo back. It’s worth reiterating: if the market for dedicated gaming hardware disappears, I fear it’s game over for Nintendo as we know it.

But if the time of the game console is not yet at an end (handheld or otherwise), then Nintendo has a lot of work to do. It needs to get better at all of the game-related things that iOS is good at. It needs to produce software that clearly demonstrates the value of its hardware—or, if that’s not possible, then it needs to make new hardware.

The Colors of Apple ⇢

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Linus Edwards, writing about the rumored iPhone 5C, in context of the design of past Apple products:

I wonder if these new colorful iPhones, along with the more colorful iOS 7, is a signal that Apple is transitioning into another colorful phase, similar to that of the late 90s. I always found it strange how Steve Jobs pushed the colorful iMac and iBooks, yet completely turned away from those colors after only a few years. Maybe he saw that fashion and tastes change rather quickly and wanted to pivot and stay ahead of the game. The bright colors would soon become garish if Apple kept them too long, so Jobs took Macs in a completely different direction with neutral colors that would be more timeless and less at the whim of current fashion.