Apple Computer received a patent Wednesday for a system that would give end users the ability to detach, switch, and customize the case of their laptop computer.
The patent -- Reconfigurable enclosure panel for a mobile computer -- describes a system in which a laptop's housing could be coupled and decoupled, pointing to a day when consumers will be able to match their laptops with their outfits. Perhaps Apple is taking its fashion cues from Swatches and cell phones.
"The enclosure panel can have cosmetic or functional attributes, or both," reads the abstract.
"To achieve cosmetic individuality, the enclosure panel housing is made of a durable substance like transparent or colorful plastic or stainless steel, or is covered by a textile, vinyl, leather, or elastomeric material.
"Functional attributes include enclosure panels with pouches for storage, additional electronic component configurability, a solar power source, or a transporting means."
"The enclosure panel housing is interchangeable with other enclosure panel housings, providing the user with reconfigurability of a mobile computer design."
Apple (AAPL) spokesman Russel Brady declined to comment on the patent, or future plans for the company's portable computer line.
"We don't talk about future products," Brady said. "We will be shipping a consumer portable based on the Mac OS in 1999, but people are making a lot of assumptions."
The feature described in the patent is similar to one included in the since-discontinued PowerBook 1400 line. That series offered covers that could be slid off the back of the display module and replaced with others.
Apple already said that it will release a PowerBook version of the iMac sometime in the first half of this year. Though the company is more secretive than ever about product development, many expect a portable iMac to be unveiled at Apple's 1999 Worldwide Developers Conference in May.
Thomas Meyerhoffer, a principle partner of Void, an industrial design firm, and the lead designer on Apple's discontinued eMate portable computer, said the patent points to smart planning at the company.
"[Apple's] products are becoming more and more consumer-market oriented," Meyerhoffer said.
"Hopefully there will be more to it that just cosmetics. Ultimately, what you can do is create different brands that cater to different types of users, similar to the way the car industry creates different cars out of the same platform."
