Unauthoritative Pronouncements

It certainly took me by surprise when Apple contacted me, of all people, to be the sole news outlet to run the story about the fifth MacBook Air color being added to the recently updated line-up. Certainly they were contacting me out of deep respect, and not as a prank, right? Second, I didn’t know why this color was released so soon after the line was refreshed.

When I hopped on the WebEx call with Apple (my first, and probably only, ever time using WebEx so I savored it) I asked directly why there was a gap in product releases. I’m unclear on what part of their response I’m supposed to say since I just scribbled “Is this on background???” in the margin and never asked. It would seem that Apple wanted to release this color in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, or possibly as a condition of their settlement with the European Commission over using Ireland to dodge taxes. Or maybe it was just a coincidence? As an aside, I told them that I was one quarter Irish on my dad’s side of the family, but they didn’t have much of a reaction.

There was a mild smile, and tiny shake of the head side-to-side when I asked if this was just because people thought all the silvers are too similar. They didn’t say anything though. It was just very tense.

When I looked at the product photos Apple provided me I had to ask if they hue shifted the background and screen to be green in Photoshop or if it really was green. They assured me that there’s no mistaking this “gorgeous new shamrock”. That part they definitely told me to write down.

They were also excited to tell me that there is also a color-matched charging cable for the new hint o’ mint. All of which is available today through the Apple Store to customers.

I wondered if buyers who recently purchased a sky blue MacBook Air would feel left out, and need to trade-in their product soon, but that’s when Apple surprised me with their latest green initiative. Apple said that while a midnight M4 MacBook Air buyer would have to use the traditional product exchange process any customer who bought a M4 MacBook Air will be able to instantly exchange it for shamrock. They won’t have to go to the Apple Store, ship products, or deal with wasteful packaging.

This product swap is entirely carbon neutral and done with energy offsets only. It seemed too good to be true, but any customer that purchased their M4 MacBook Air in sky blue, starlight, or silver will receive a new receipt by email that shows that they bought a shamrock MacBook Air, and also a new green desktop wallpaper. I don’t effectively know how that changes the color, but they said it definitely does, and then said “carbon neutral” again.

I look forward to seeing the machine in person, and especially in the vicinity of other colors, so that the bold new hue will hopefully pop —or seem like it’s more than a fourth silver.