Perhaps this verdict not surprising, since each device has its pros and cons and the widespread adoption of each are evidenced by the significant market share captured by each vendor. What requires a bit more under-the-hood analysis, however, is an evaluation of how well the devices actually perform as business tools and communication devices, more than simply comparing aesthetic preferences or brand loyalty.

Using any tool or technology requires some learning curve to master, and since both devices are currently available in the U.S. only through AT&T, a network performance/availability and pricing plan discussion between the two is a non-issue. What matters most to a small business owner (and admitted technophile) is practicality, features, and performance.

My primary reason for upgrading to the BlackBerry Bold from Research in Motion (RIM) in the beginning of 2009 was to make use of reliable 3G-data tethering, a nearly indispensable tool for those of us who need Internet access with our laptops and do not wish to add a separate data plan or the ever-so-20th-century USB modem dongle. When Apple announced its 3.0 version of software, as well as some hardware enhancements in its latest iPhone 3GS device, I finally considered the device to be entering the realm of what I would consider usable as a proper business tool. Despite being a huge fan of Apple products and owner of multiple Mac computers and iPods, I have resisted the iPhone since its inception as it has paled in comparison to the functionality of BlackBerry devices as business tools. Now having finally jumped on the iPhone bandwagon a few weeks ago, I have identified strengths of each platform in both architecture as well as native and third-party applications.

Architectural advantages of the BlackBerry Bold

A smartphone is, first and foremost, a phone. As such, any comparison of features such as design, applications, and usability all yield priority to functioning as an voice communicator. Comparing devices side-by-side (again, using same network in the same location), the Bold has superior audio quality using the headset directly, and in particular, when using the speakerphone. RIM’s audio design team raised an already high bar for audio performance with the Curve to an even higher standard with the Bold.

With any phone these days, communication is now frequently expected to take on written forms, such as sending/receiving text messages (SMS), email, and instant messaging (IM). The Bold’s keyboard is extraordinarily comfortable and is the best thumb-typing experience I have enjoyed to date (including Palm devices and definitely the iPhone). While I am quite impressed with the iPhone’s error correcting mechanism, it simply cannot rival the kinesthetic feedback offered by physical keys, and it is particularly ineffective at error correction when dealing with proper nouns, numbers, and symbols. I found it ironic in Steve Jobs’s initial announcement of the original iPhone two when he voiced contempt for the “cheap, plastic keys” used in other phones as being a hindrance to elegance and usability. Would these be a similar hindrance as the “cheap, plastic keys” which comprise their complete line of desktop and laptop computers? After all, if touch-screen keyboards were truly more efficient for data entry, we would all be using full-sized touch keyboards by now.

Having a physical keyboard also provides a wide number of single-press shortcuts to applications as well as assignable press-and-hold speed dial functionality for contacts. This translates to potentially over 100 single-touch operations which can be launched from the home screen (compared to the iPhone’s 20 icons per page, including the bottom dock). Further, hotkey functionality is designed into many BlackBerry applications along with context-menu features (via the trackball click) and full-menu features (via the dedicated menu button sporting the BlackBerry logo). This allows for access to a wide range of actions within an application with a one-or-two thumbclick reach.

What’s also great about the BlackBerry is the spell checking while typing feature, where an unobtrusive underline for a potentially misspelled word is identified and may be corrected by a quick trackball-initiated click to select a proper spelling. On the topic of the trackball (a BlackBerry hallmark since the Pearl), this mechanism is extraordinarily efficient for edit text (cursor placement) and copying/pasting. As such, any task which involves typing is a far easier, more efficient, and more accurate task on the Bold than the iPhone. On top of the kinesthetic physical advantage, the Bold offers an impressive autotext feature which allows for the addition of custom abbreviations (ala software like TextExpander) to further expedite typing tasks for common words and phrases.

Other advantages of the BlackBerry is that its operating system (OS) is a multi-threaded architecture, meaning that more than one application may be executed concurrently. This is particularly helpful when launching a web page in the browser, snapping back to BlackBerry Messenger or the email client to fire a response or copy some information, then jumping back to the browser to find that the page rendering has continue to load fully in the background. The BlackBerry is also highly configurable to a great level of detail regarding user options and profiles, and 3G data tethering via USB or Bluetooth and multimedia messaging service (MMS) actually work with AT&T’s service. Further, BlackBerry devices include media cards and provide an extremely handy automount feature when connected to a computer to facilitate file transfer to/from the media cards or internal memory from a computer. In using my phone as a primary business line, I also find great use in having a swappable battery which I have on-hand to maintain a full charge on-the-go. Given the fantastic support for Google application synchronization, having “cloud sync” of calendars and contacts is easy (and free) even for us non-Exchange users.

Architectural advantages of the iPhone

The iPhone clearly shines in two areas: anything involving pure reading or passive viewing, and having a flexible software development kit (SDK) for application development. Having incorporated MobileMe cloud synchronization was a huge feature when introduced (one I was awaiting since the original iPhone release) and elevates the status of both the device and the MobileMe service as true business-class tools (giving credence to Apple’s clever tagline, “Exchange for the rest of us.”). Visual Voicemail is a nice feature as a phone, but is certainly not a game-changing attribute.

Superior BlackBerry applications

BlackBerry Messenger is a great application which stands apart from other instant messaging (IM) clients, though it is restricted only to BlackBerry users. Using email within its underlying proprietary protocol, it easily allows for group chats and eliminates the 140-character limits of short messaging service (SMS). Further, in the realm of messaging, the BlackBerry OS provides a very clean integration of all messaging applications from supporting applications including emails, SMS/texts, Facebook, Google Talk/AIM, BlackBerry Messenger, and the like. It cleanly does so by aggregating incoming messages or active chats (if configured accordingly) to appear in the main message window, along with a small icon for the corresponding application. Along this line, it would be great to see a Twitter client incorporate this same functionality with direct messages.

As for other native personal information management (PIM) applications, the BlackBerry is very strong with its built-in calendar (week view, built-in task reminders), tasks, and memo applications. With AT&T, the Telenav software is very well integrated, providing accurate routing and point-of-interest assistance via speaking, typing, or selecting “Drive To…” within a link from contact or calendar event.

Other third-party applications which are of great use on the BlackBerry (and have superior functionality than the corresponding iPhone versions, if they even exist) are

• Vlingo (including the ability to create a “note to self” as or memo/task)
• Salesforce.com
• BBNotePad for editing text files within internal memory or on a media card
• Bluetooth keyboard driver for Universal Freedom portable keyboard

Superior iPhone applications:

Hands down, Safari Mobile is the best smartphone browser on the market. Its user interface, speed, accuracy of rendering, and automatic synchronization of bookmarks via MobileMe, is fantastic. What is surprising is that after two years of development, however, it still lacks support for Flash animation, as well as a simple ‘find text in page’ function which is only a shortcut keystroke away (by typing the letter ‘f’) in the BlackBerry mobile browser.

Similar to web browsing, reading HTML email on the iPhone is a dream. A very practical and important business advantage over the BlackBerry email client is having direct access to all of my IMAP mailboxes, something which RIM will likely never implement on BlackBerry devices given their desire to sell BES/BIS servers.

Other third-party applications which are of great use on the iPhone (and have greater functionality than the corresponding iPhone versions, if they even exist) are

• iPod/media player functionality: While the BlackBerry has a media player and it is easy to transfer to/from a memory card, the iTunes integration for media synchronization is top-notch, as are the iPod and Photos applications on the iPhone.
• Application store: The availability, user interface, speed, and push notification of updates for installed applications provide for a far superior experience in this are on the iPhone.
• The fantastic Remember the Milk (RTM) task/project management application which synchronizes with its corresponding online service provides a much more flexible way to view, sort, and interact with tasks compared to the BlackBerry’s native Tasks application.
• 1Password
• Tweetdeck
• YouTube
• FlightTrack
• iRentMovie for Netflix account/queue management
• HP42s calculator (yes, I still have an affinity for geeky calculators even after leaving the engineering world by trade)

Strange iPhone omissions

Despite now being on OS version 3.x after finally supporting such basic mainline features as copy/paste, Bluetooth tethering, and MMS, I am still amazed that a number of similarly “basic” functions are still missing from the iPhone OS and its bundled applications. Most, if not all, of these functions are supported by competitive handsets, and a number of them have been available for years in non-smartphone devices (i.e. regular phones):

• No Bluetooth object exchange (OBEX) profile support (allowing transfer of objects/files such as contacts, photos, or other files to other devices with the same capability
• Calendar
  • No week view
  • Cannot change calendar assignments (colors) for an existing event
  • Cannot tap-dial phone number listed as location
• Contacts
  • Cannot assign a new contact to an existing group
  • Cannot create/edit contact groups
• Safari Mobile: cannot find text within a web page (within Safari mobile)
• Cannot assign ringtones by contact group
• Cannot automount phone memory as an external disk (even though iDisk is now available)
• Voice recording via Bluetooth headset

In summary, the iPhone is great pocket-sized, connected computer and media viewer providing a flexible platform for custom application development. The BlackBerry’s place as an industry leading workhorse amd high-quality personal communicator remains well justified, not only in providing the common-sense expected features of a business tool but in providing a fair amount of personal/entertainment features, as well. Since most of the omissions and deficiencies of each platform noted above are software-releated, it will be interesting to see if either Apple or RIM will take note to improve their already great devices and remain highly attractive in the increasingly competitive smartphone market.

It is important for me to have tools which work in a highly interconnected fashion. Since I use multiple computers between home, office, and travel, I require the fluidity and unity of a common environment across each of them. This extends beyond simply having the same operating and using the same software on each computer. So as not to have any transactions within my business development fall through the cracks, I require my devices to be synchronized with one another in a way which makes it seem as if my work and past actions have “automagically” transferred amongst one other. This single-entry, multiple-propagation characteristic is an important component of efficiently and accurately maintaining business-critical files and records across all of my work environments.

As a fair amount of my business is conducted on the move, and especially given that my local transportation is usually via motorcycle, having a compact and ultra-portable office is highly important. Establishing a tool flow which is lightweight both physically and logically allows me to work in a manner which is both fun and efficient. To date, the following are my favorite hardware and software tools of the trade:

Hardware and accessories

• MacBook Air
• Tumi Alpha laptop sleeve
• OWC external hard drive (320 GB, USB 2.0 bus-powered)
• Blackberry Bold (9000)
• Jawbone bluetooth headset
• iPod Classic for general-purpose traveling (160 GB, fortunately before it was trimmed down to 120 GB in the latest iteration)
• iPod Nano for walking, exercising
• Lubix UNHS-LC1 bluetooth stereo headphones and Phone
• iMuffs (primarily to use transceiver for iPod to interface with Lubix headphones)
• Mini USB hub for travel charging
• Zip-linq cables for compactly connecting to various USB devices
• Tumi backpacks for their stylish, practically designed, and rugged products to tote around all of the above, especially via motorcycle
• Dual-usb cigarette-lighter-adapter (CLA) for charging USB devices while driving

Software

• Butler – slick application/URL/media/document launcher
• Chronosync – allows easy synchronization of files across multiple computers via portable drive and LAN/WAN mounts
• Built-in Apple applications (Mail/iCal/Address Book/iChat/Safari), conveniently synchronized to multiple computers via MobileMe and IMAP mail service provided through MobileMe
• Things – effective task manager with items partially synchronized via iCal/MobileMe
• Yojimbo – excellent note/.pdf/image archive tool which conveniently synchronizes through MobileMe and to the BlackBerry via the Missing Sync
• Anxiety – lightweight task viewer which directly accesses iCal’s database
• NetNewsWire – handy news aggregator with free multiple-client synchronizing via Newsgator service
• MarsEdit – handy offline blog writing and editing (would love to see MobileMe synchronization integrated eventually)
• Apple’s iWork ‘08 suite, particularly for Keynote and Pages
• Microsoft Excel (as part of Microsoft Office) – still the industry standard spreadsheet tool
• ConceptDraw’s Mindmap Pro
• FileMaker Pro – custom database creation for client data management
• WireTap Studio – audio capture tool; fantastic for recording audio streams from webcasts
• Quicken Deluxe – for expense tracking, P&L generation, tax reporting
• VisualHub – great for transcoding video formats
• VMware Fusion – lightweight means to run Windows XP on the rare occasion it is useful
• TextWrangler – great basic text editor

What I’m still searching to find…

1. Smartphone support of entire feature set used by BluePhone Elite
• It works well with Symbian (SonyEricsson-manufactured) and Windows Mobile devices, neither of which are acceptable smartphone platforms for my usage based on their feature set and user interface.
2. Stable, non-duplicate-entry-creating, and full-featured cloud sync of native BlackBerry data to my PIM apps (iCal, Address Book, Things, and Yojimbo)
• Spanning Sync handles Google Calendar <-> iCal/Address Book syncing with some caveats, and this effectively allows for BlackBerry to Google cloud syncing for these two applications
• Things <-> iCal sync for tasks is supposed to work seamlessly, operating directly on the iCal database made available to applications in OS 10.5; unfortunately, this does not work well at all and results in many duplicate tasks
• Would love to have Evernote for Blackberry to handle the note/cloud piece (and possibly solve my task/cloud problem, as well)

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• MobileMe (WAN sync), carrying Apple’s clever tag line of being “Exchange for the rest of us”
• Attachment view of iWork & Office ‘97 docs
• Integrated GPS

While I give kudos to Apple for these most welcome additions (especially offering WAN sync to MobileMe), I am still quite disappointed by the lack of a removable battery and some form of expandable storage (via either MMC or microSD card) in the hardware, particularly as the latter would allow for doubling the available memory. Minimally, one would expect the iPhone 3G to match the highest memory capacity of the current iPod Touch (32 GB), but alas, the initial offering will only provide up to 16 GB. As disappointing as these shortcomings are, I have even greater concerns regarding what was not mentioned by Mr. Jobs’s keynote address in terms of software support available in v2.0.

My hope is that neglecting to mention the following “new” features is a tacit admission of guilt that they are only finding their way into v2.0 software a full year after the device’s initial release. Considering that they have been supported for years on even the most aging smartphone platforms (such as those running the Palm OS) and many non-smartphones, it is ridiculous for the iPhone to continue excluding these basic features. Considering that my requested feature set is not unique, it begs the question: Is the iPhone development team actually reading any of the many iPhone blogs which express disappointment at these missing “baseline” features?

• Adequate Bluetooth profile support
  • Dialup Networking (DUN) via 3G/EDGE – allowing a laptop to use the phone as a modem (which may by explicitly disabled by wireless carriers)
  • Object Exchange (OBEX) – allowing push/pull of objects (e.g. contacts, media files)
  • Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) – allowing the local broadcasting of stereo audio to compliant wireless stereo headphones or to a car stereo
  • Hands-free Profile (HFK) with voice dial via Bluetooth
  • Human Interface Device (HID) – allowing external I/O devices to control the iPhone (e.g. keyboard, mouse)

  • Serial Port Profile (SPP) – … and any other higher level support which would allow for interoperation with BluePhone Elite
  • Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) – allowing control of media devices via software such as Salling Clicker
• Global copy/paste functionality
• Global search functionality across all applications’ databases (e.g. Spotlight for iPhone)
• Native portrait/landscape mode for all applications
• Virtual Hard Disk Drive (HDD) mode – the ability to transfer files to/from the iPhone via usb or as an attached network storage device
• Video recording
• Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

Additional third-party applications I would like to see released for the iPhone, assuming Apple will not incorporate them as native applications, include:

• Yojimbo by Bare Bones Software (including sync with MobileMe)
• Voice dial (potentially supported by VoiceSignal, which already has some demos in the works)
• Call recording
• Voice memo

If the above list does not quietly make its way into the v2.0 release, I will continue to stick with my trusty Blackberry Curve, or possibly jump to the Blackberry Bold, assuming Bluetooth Dialup Networking is fully supported in order to gain 3G connectivity from my laptop. Visual voice mail, great mobile browsing, and rich mobile email aside, how long must we wait for the iPhone to incorporate some of these most basic phone and smartphone features?

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Wrong. In fact, spending a few minutes online reading about its features (or the lack thereof) along with 5 minutes of hands-on experience in an Apple retail store last summer was more than enough to convince me that the iPhone was not even close to serving my needs. Perhaps my needs are different than others who would buy an iPhone over an iPod Touch. I can understand the appeal of the latter: a wide-screen, multitouch, gorgeous multimedia appliance with Wi-Fi which further extends an already popular (and profitable) product line.

If the iPhone is to be an iPod Touch plus a revolutionary phone, I would expect it to incorporate (at a minimum) the standard set of basic cellphone features which have been commonplace for years in much less expensive, low-end devices. In fact, as a high-end phone (as determined by its price point) coupled with a revolutionary user interface, I would also expect it to incorporate all of the basic Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or smartphone capabilities which have been around for more than 10 years. After all, PDA functions are just software, an aspect of which the iPhone has claimed to be king.

When Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone in his keynote address, he praised Research In Motion (RIM) and its Blackberry devices for holding 40% of the smartphone market share and clearly differentiated the iPhone as a non-competitor to this group. All of this has changed less than a year later, as the highly anticipated iPhone v2.0 is rumored to compete directly with the Blackberry devices by offering 3G (higher bandwidth) data capability and push-email support. While these new capabilities are great (especially the faster data rates), the iPhone still lacks a number of other significant features which leave it far short from competing with the Blackberry devices (and even among the aging Palm devices) as a functional business tool.

In nearly a decade as a heavy PDA user I have been loyal to the Palm operating system, even after sampling various incarnations of Windows Mobile throughout its evolution. Since the PalmPilot(TM) debuted in 1997, the Palm OS has offered an intuitive, elegant, and efficient Personal Information Management (PIM) system to organize one’s personal and professional data (e.g. contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes). Everything in this magic handheld device was capable of synchronizing with a computer, making major additions/updates to this mobile database very easy. While Palm has maintained the simplicity and consistency in the look and feel of its OS over the past decade, it has unfortunately done so to a point of its own undoing. Rumored overhauls of its OS (possibly to indicate a renaissance within the company, as OS X provided for Apple) failed to materialize, with the company focusing on repackaging a very aged OS into new plastics with slightly smaller form factors. This lack of innovation in performance and user experience over the past several years has caught up with Palm, and it has been proverbially lapped by its competitors.

Ultimately I switched from my 2-year-old Palm Treo 680 to a Blackberry Curve earlier this year as the Treo simply became unusable as a mission-critical business tool. I found myself having to hard-reset the Treo many times per day, and I became very frustrated with the slow response of the device to user input in navigating screens, dialing, etc. Sadly, I knew it was time to look for an alternative device which would be reliable, even though I had been a Palm loyalist for years.

The only other operating system in a portable device which I had not personally experienced (despite its tremendous popularity) was the Blackberry, so I set out to see if this would provide a viable alternative to the Palm in my usage model. Within a very short period of time after purchasing the Curve, I found it to provide an exceptionally stable and satisfying experience in nearly every aspect, except for the stability with which it functions as a wireless modem for a laptop via Bluetooth Dialup Networking (BT DUN).

In the table below, I compare my experience with the Treo 680, the Blackberry Curve, and the iPhone, rating the raw capability of each device in performing various functions on a scale from 0 to 10 (0 = feature does not exist, 10 = ideal implementation). To identify the best device for my usage model, I multiplied the capability rating of each device for a given feature by the relative importance of that feature to yield a weighted score. This allows me to decouple a device’s particular capability from the practical usefulness of that function. Certainly, each user will have his/her own priority rating for features, as well as individual ratings for how well each task is performed by a given device. My priorities are geared toward serving a small-business professional who has full control over his/her IT gear and values performance, reliability, and efficiency in supporting business functions (while also appreciating a great user experience).

Weighted feature comparison of Treo 680, Blackberry Curve, and iPhone

 
From the total weighted scores above, the Blackberry Curve provides the best overall user experience given the priority weighting and the corresponding capabilities for the above functions. In its current state, the iPhone needs to add many basic phone and smartphone features to yield a score which rivals the Curve according to these criteria. It would be nice for v2.0 (perhaps labeled an ‘iPhone Pro’ to be consistent with Apple’s laptop branding differentiation) to incorporate these practical functions and really give Blackberry some significant competition among business users.

Other wishes

Since Apple has opened up third-party development by rolling out its Software Development Kit (SDK), there is a potential for non-Apple developers to fill in some of the smartphone-related missing pieces from the table above. However, there are a number of core services which can only be provided by Apple in the form of software support. Here are a few other items on my iPhone v2.0 wishlist (though I know there are many others with a nice anthology here):

• Global copy/paste functionality
• Global search functionality across all applications’ databases (e.g. Spotlight for iPhone)
• Add hyperlinks to dial phone numbers directly from within calendar/tasks/notes
• Contact exchange via Bluetooth (OBEX profile)
• Bluetooth and LAN sync to local computer
• .Mac sync (via LAN/WAN)

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As newer laptop models began to emerge from the talented team in Cupertino, however, I was a bit disenchanted in not seeing an updated version of my 12″ Powerbook. I began dreaming of an ultra-lightweight, yet fully featured, version of this laptop to come about with greater power in a similar, if not even more portable, version. I knew I certainly wasn’t alone in this desire, as there had been many speculative posts on rumor boards indicating the same desire and/or anticipation of such a product.

Naturally, when I saw the announcement of Apple’s MacBook Air (MBA), I was elated. In watching Steve Jobs’s keynote address introducing the product, it seemed that Apple had been listening to all of my telepathic messages indicating exactly what I wanted in my dream 12″-Powerbook replacement: full-sized keyboard, improved display, reasonable power for the package, good battery life, and very light weight (i.e. backpack friendly–a must for me, as I use a motorcycle as my preferred form of transportation). What has surprised me since I had preordered my machine in January is the number of bloggers/reviewers who have regarded the MacBook Air only to serve a “niche” market and to be unsuitable as a sole or primary computer. While I am fortunate enough to make use of several computers at home, I fail to see why the MacBook Air would not be sufficient for most people even as a primary computer. As such, I’m providing my own hands-on review here, being a very satisfied owner after 3 months of daily usage. Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in promoting the MacBook Air or any other Apple products, but as a self-admitted technophile I derive great pleasure from using tools which increase the fun and efficiency with which I build and operate my businesses.

Why I love the MacBook Air

Before I begin addressing the commonly cited compromises of the computer, it seems appropriate to mention a bit about why I consider this to be my favorite laptop to date (my fourth, in total, and my second Apple laptop). First, it’s obviously thin and lightweight. Who wouldn’t enjoy a lightweight laptop? People buy laptops because they are portable (as opposed to springing for a larger-display wielding desktop models), so making a laptop as lightweight and thin as possible most capably meets this need.

One of my personal favorite uses of the MacBook Air is to enjoy my outdoor home office instead of being relegated to my indoor home office. The beautiful LED-backlit, “instant-on” display is crisp and clear with great visibility outdoors–far superior to that of my old Powerbook. The full-size keyboard is a must, for me, to spend any reasonable amount of time at the keys. Battery life is reasonable (I get 4-5 hours on a charge depending on backlight intensity, radio usage, etc.) and the Wi-fi antenna/radio performance offers great improvement in range and the higher bandwidth of 802.11n. From a mechanical and industrial design perspective, I am thoroughly impressed with the robust hinge and clasp-less closure… as simple and beautiful to view as it is functional. Last but not least is the large multi-touch trackpad, which has me so spoiled that when I transfer to work on either of my desktops I find myself yearning for the 3-finger page-turn or back/forward gesture frequently.

OK, enough with the obvious “coolness” which is expected of the MacBook Air. That alone does not justify the $1,800+ cost of the machine, especially for pragmatic small-business owners and other professionals. Business utility comes first, which is the reason I am still holding onto my Blackberry Curve until the iPhone (v2.0?) incorporates its business and high-end phone functionality, and I’m not referring to “push-email”… but that topic is another post all to itself. So what exactly are all of these compromises or “lacking features” in the MBA which the average person cannot live without?

The MacBook Air’s design trade-offs

No built-in optical drive

For individuals who are considering using a MacBook Air as their sole computer, I advise springing for the $99 USB-based Superdrive to allow for importing CDs into iTunes, installing software, watching DVDs, etc. For those who have at least one other computer with an optical drive, however, I personally see no need for buying MBA’s external Superdrive. I’ve performed remote software installations over a home network prior to the introduction of Apple’s “Remote Disc” feature introduced with the MBA, so that’s really nothing newsworthy. Further, an intelligent way to make legal backup copies of software installers is to make image files of them via Apple’s Disk Utility (included with OS X) with the touch of a button. These image files may then be mounted and installed directly over a network or via an attached USB hard drive.

No firewire port

Some Apple users are tied to Firewire devices as they have legacy peripherals which only have this interface (instead of USB). Many users, however, do not need Firewire nor would they even know if this feature were missing. It is true that Firewire-400 offers better performance (average throughput) than USB 2.0 due to nature of its protocol, but this difference is not by an order of magnitude. By contrast, most peripheral devices adopt USB as the standard (including Apple, having migrated its iPods away from Firewire-400 interfaces to USB 2.0), and even video cameras have since begun to migrate away from Firewire to USB.

It only has one USB port

One of my preferred methods of reducing cable weight/clutter when traveling is to charge as many devices (e.g. phone, bluetooth headset, iPod, etc.) as possible through a USB hub. Granted, having only one USB port on the MBA requires the use of an external hub to accommodate more than one device concurrently, as well as a power supply for this external hub if it is sourcing current to many peripherals. This requirement is no different with the MBA than with my old Powerbook, however, which only had 2 USB ports. As such, I agree with Apple that if more than 1 USB port is necessary (particularly given the proliferation of Bluetooth-capable external keyboards, mice, remotes, etc.), one may as well plug in one of the widely available ultra-portable USB hubs to support multiple USB peripherals.

“Small” (80 GB) hard drive

As media usage increases, the need for hard drive capacity grows considerably. As such, an 80-GB drive may not sound like much, but neither is a 160- to 300-GB capacity if it is to serve as a primary library for music, photos, and videos. My iPod Classic packs a solid 160 GB (the same size as the internal drive for my dual-G5 Power Mac), so I’ve long ago required the use of external drives for media and backup storage. So what’s the complaint about this capacity on the MacBook Air? I personally use a very portable, USB-bus-powered 320-GB drive to hold media, to serve as an image backup (via Time Machine), and to contain the virtual machine image which allows me run Windows applications via VMware Fusion.

“Slow” performance

I’m one who appreciates high-performance machinery and gadgets, and my expectation of a laptop certainly would not escape this scrutiny. Despite the limited number of configurations available for the highly integrated MBA, however, 2 GB of RAM is far from a “low-end” specification. In fact, it’s 0.5 GB more memory than exists in my dual-G5 desktop. Although the 1.8 GB Intel Core 2 duo processor inarguably renders this platform to be less than ideal for highly compute-intensive tasks (e.g. multimedia editing, encoding/decoding large files), it is very well suited for standard business and productivity tasks (e.g. email, Internet browsing, database design, giving presentations, etc.). As such, I see no reason why it would not provide more than sufficient performance for the average business user. It is certainly a performance upgrade from my 12″ Powerbook G4.

No removable battery

I personally have never carried a spare battery with my old 12″ Powerbook G4, and I only replaced its battery once after ~3 years’ time, which seems reasonable for any battery (having a finite cycle life of charge/discharge). Those who fly frequently and are in the air longer than 4-5 hours at a stretch without sufficient layover time for recharging would legitimately have a valid complaint against the MBA, as it does not offer a swappable, external battery. In my experience, only having flown domestically so far, I have never used an extra, swappable battery so this is not a meaningful requirement to me.

In closing…

To be sure, any given product can never be all things to all people, and the MacBook Air is no exception here. That said, I believe that its stylish, lightweight, robust, and ergonomically friendly design would appeal to most folks who are looking for a portable computer, and given its mid-level price point, it may just literally redefine the “standard” expectation of a laptop for the majority of portable computer users.

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