New customer survey includes questions about 3G

A survey being sent out to select MacBook Air owners may reveal that Apple is considering adding native 3G capability to the ultra-portable -- among other possibilities, reports AppleInsider. The survey also asks questions about how users handle syncing data, how often and for what purpose the USB and MiniDisplayPort ports are used, what accessories MBA owners use most often and other such questions.

Another area of interest are the questions about cloud syncing -- using MobileMe, or Dropbox, Google Docs, Windows Live Sync/Windows Briefcase or some of the typical non-cloud methods of syncing like USB thumb drives, external hard drives or "e-mailing documents to myself." Apple's plans for its North Carolina data center are still unclear, but Apple CEO Steve Jobs did promise improvements to MobileMe this year in an e-mail to a questioner.

The questions about 3G compatibility -- how users connect 3G to their MacBook Air presently, and how often they do so -- raise the possibility that Apple may want to add 3G capability to a future version of the Air, or indeed its entire MacBook lineup. When Jobs introduced the revamped Air this past October, he described it as being "the first of a new generation of notebooks."

The survey also asks about specific features of the Air (such as the "FaceTime camera," media control keys, Bluetooth and audio port), and in an unusual question for an Apple survey, asks users what they would change about the MacBook Air to make into a primary computer. [via AppleInsider]

By Electronista Staff