When Apple extended its four-cornered Grid O' Products to make room for the Cube, who knew the newcomer would wreak so much havoc? Suddenly the simplicity of Apple's product plan was broken; no longer could we choose a Mac based purely on two binary variables: form factor (desktop or portable) and demographic (consumer or professional). The Cube wedged its boxy way in between the iMac and the Power Mac, thus muddying the waters for desktop shoppers, which probably at least partially accounts for its own slow adoption. The poor thing, though gorgeous and slick, just doesn't quite fit anywhere. You all heard the question over and over again after the Cube was first unveiled: "But who is it for?"

Let's hope Apple does a better job at positioning the Cube's portable counterpart. And make no mistake, there will be a portable counterpart. No, knucklehead, it won't be another cube; few companies are capable of designing something that ludicrous, and Apple surely isn't one of them. Look, the Cube is a teensy and stylish Power Mac that's got more "oomph" than an iMac, right? So whatever the heck Apple slaps together to occupy that vacant new grid square will probably resemble a thin-and-light PowerBook, minus the whopping huge display and most of its other high-end features, but faster and sleeker than the iBook. It's not rocket science, people.

Now, whether Mac OS Rumors has real inside information or simply came up with a spec list out of thin air based on common sense, its most recent description of the "mystery portable" is pretty darn intriguing. Picture a "sleek, futuristic Cube-reminiscent Graphite enclosure" housing a 13-inch screen, a 600-800 MHz G3, a RADEON Mobility graphics chip, gigabit Ethernet, the requisite USB and FireWire ports, a DVD-ROM drive, an expansion bay, and twelve hours of battery life all for $1699. Sounds good to us-- though personally, we'd probably rather see a smaller screen to target the ultraportable market instead of simply positioning this thing as a "mid-range" Mac laptop. In any case, if Apple's going to rebound from its current slump by virtue of its 2001 product line-up, there's a lot riding on this "mystery portable" to succeed where the Cube (sort of) failed. Keep your fingers crossed and start saving those nickels.