As everyone who isn’t following the imminent Britney meltdown knows, Apple announced a new notebook today dubbed the MacBook Air, which is positioned between their MacBook and MacBook Pro models. The notebook lacks all the conventional peripherals of a normal notebook (such as an optical drive and speakers) to make it the thinnest and lightest 13.3″ notebook to date.

In all of their marketing so far (the tv spot and Quicktime Guided Tour included), they have been positioning the subcompact notebook to what I feel is the corporate contingent they’ve been missing since the demise of the 12″ PowerBook.

The 12″ PowerBook had the mobility of a small notebook, but where it faltered was the thickness and weight, despite its smaller form factor. While the plastic MacBook is the consumer and student-centric notebook and the MacBook Pro is seen carried by design pros and power users, it will be interesting to see if the MBA (coincidence?) falls perfectly into the office setting as the mobile companion of a subsidized Dell desktop. Offerings like iChat, Remote Disk with a Mac or PC, full-sized backlit keyboard for dark conference rooms and plane flights and unheard of mobility make me wonder if Apple is hoping to see MacBook Airs slowly creep into the office, just like the iPhone is trying to do. Now with a cellular device and a notebook, what else would a corporate professional need? I’m predicting a Samsonite and Apple mashup come MacWorld ’09, the iLug.