( This blog post is purely a “What if” scenario  Apple has not launched NanoPhone)

Apple has been doing fine without a Keyboard product, but i today when I saw the Nano touch,  I had this new mobile phone product idea immediately  come to mind .  As you can see, if you do put the Blackberry or Nokia Keyboard below as in the picture it seems to fit perfectly in terms of size.

Could something like this go on Sale in November? Could be a killer low-end Christmas Product?

This last week Apple announced Nano Touch.  A small display that has touch.  How will this evolve with application developers?   Given the fact this display form factor is now like the displays in Smart phones with keyboards ( smaller and with a form factor like a Blackberry),  this could be an entire new generation of low-end phone devices from Apple.

The first thing I thought when I saw this, was that with all the growth of Android and the need for a more diversified road map by Apple to de-risk the single product roadmap strategy, this is the concept that came to mind. I do not have any indication that Apple would do this kind of product, but if we look at history,  Apple did launch some of the new technology via iPod first, then they launched the product and features of  the iPhone.  They are using the two product categories in a tag-team like manner to not only grow the market, but to also test it.

So Apple would first come out with the simple Music version of Nano Touch, then use that technology and screen size to bring out the phone….  could make sense. Any comments?

The Question is why would Apple do such a thing as they are clearly the leaders and #1 with the one form factor screen size.

1) Many people also just plain perfer a physical keypad….Why should Apple NOT have a foot in that market and go after RIM’s Blackberry,  and low-end Smartphone  market share.   With the existing  large display on iPhones, iTouches  they could add a sliding keybord below ( like we have seen with Palm Pre, HTC, Samsung and Windows products), but now with this new release of Nano and that small display, looks like this kind of Blackberry type of format could also be possible.

2) As the iPhone4 is driving more top of the market, the mid and low end feather replacements are now getting hit by Android positioning.  Why not have a product that can position itself for this replacement market segment as well.  Lower end, smaller display?

Might be a good different product to launch with a different Carrier?   Differentiate the offering from AT&T to others…

3) This fits nicely into the overall story of Apple. Why do they need to have products that do not have keyboards?  They have both now with the Mac and iPad with the larger screen products.  Bring it all together and let the market decide? or just make the market…… interesting to see what they do with this one.

We all thought that one thesis about Apple and its mobile products  is the death to the keyboard….. But why not have a product with a slightly smaller display and a keyboard.  So far they have done well without a mobile device that has an embedded full keyboard, but I do think the timing now is a good one to expand the road map for this type of  product as well.  No reason to have just one product category for Phones to compete against Android and others that have multiple product categories.