7 Apple Products That Would Have Been Cool

Apple's Phil Schiller put on a triumphal snoozefest in his Macworld 2009 keynote. Here are seven cool product concepts we would have loved to see him announce.

Robert Strohmeyer, PC World

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MacBook Nano 3 of 7

Since sometime last November, Apple fanboys and netbook fanboys have engaged in a frenzied debate over what an Apple netbook might look like.

One Flickr user posted a possible candidate on his photostream, and it doesn't look half bad.

iTouch Keyboard

Over in the MacRumors forums, chatter has turned to possible Apple peripheral devices.

One compelling mock-up is the iTouch keyboard, which uses a large touch screen to display a virtual keyboard and track pad on a single touch-sensitive slate. The idea, apparently, is that the user could customize it for various applications. We're not sure about this one, but it can't be any worse than those hockey-puck mice that shipped with the original iMac.

MacBook Nano

Since sometime last November, Apple fanboys and netbook fanboys have engaged in a frenzied debate over what an Apple netbook might look like.

One Flickr user posted a possible candidate on his photostream, and it doesn't look half bad.

MacBook Nano Redux

This alternate design for the MacBook Nano (from the U.K. gadget site Pocket-Lint) is a little less creative: It simply marries a thin aluminum keyboard to the edge of an iPhone. If everything here is to scale, we're not sure how a person would actually type on that keyboard.

MacBook Touch

There's something undeniably alluring about the idea of a Mac tablet; and in fact, such a thing already exists through third-party Mac refitter Axiotron.

But we suspect that the machine would look a lot cooler if Apple were to design it from the ground up. Oregon-based designer Edwin Tofslie took a whack at imagining what the finished product might look like, and it's an interesting picture.

Touchscreen Trackpad

In another take on the multifunction input device, blogger Ramin Firoozye posted this concept for a multitouch display to replace the MacBook's trackpad. It looks sort of like a cross between a MacBook and Nintendo DS.

triBook

Pushing beyond the usual rumors, the folks over at Mac|Life conjured up an even more unusual vision for mobile Macs. The Apple TriBook would include a triple-head display designed to fold out when the user opens it. Not a bad concept for road warriors who want access to more screen real estate without accepting the bulk of a larger laptop.

Alas, none of these products yet exist. In the meantime, check out the minute-by-minute notes on this year's actual Macworld Expo announcements.

You might also enjoy looking at the weird gadgets and concepts presented at this year's Computex show in Taiwan.