Dan Riccio working on a touchscreen Mac? If so, my ‘AppleBook’ wish might come true

In a must-read new article at Macworld, Michael Simon opines that Apple exec Dan Riccio’s new, secretive project might involve a touchscreen Mac. Only Apple knows whether that’s the case, but it’s a fascinating idea and lines up with my frequently expressed wishes for an “Apple Pad.”

Simon has this to say about the scenario he imagines with Riccio: Like Microsoft’s Surface, a touch-screen Mac would be part tablet and part laptop, two products that Riccio knows extremely well. But most importantly, it would be all about the display, an area Riccio has tremendous experience in. If Apple is serious about developing a Mac with multi-touch, Cook would want Riccio to devote all of his time to it.

I want an Apple device — the “AppleBook,”perhaps — powered by Apple chips that can do everything that a Mac and iPad can do — and more. Image a MacBook Pro form factor that works with a detachable keyboard, the Apple Pencil, as well as a mouse and trackpad. Imagine such a device plugging into a 21-inch or 27-inch display.

You’d have one device to replace your Mac, MacBook, and iPad. Perhaps Apple would entice you to upgrade it annually via a version of the iPhone Upgrade Program. 

This won’t happen overnight, but I think it’s a likely scenario within five years. And it will be possible by “Apple Silicon,” the collective name for system-on-chip (SoC) and system-in-package (SiP) processors designed by Apple using ARM architecture.

The accompanying image is courtesy of SCAVidsHD.