Apple patent cleverly hides an antenna in your keyboard
Apple is keen on eliminating antenna woes in its products, even ones you may not even realize had antennas in the first place. A new patent win for the Cupertino giant illustrates a method for integrating a cellular antenna into MacBook and iMac keyboards, specifically by placing antennas under some keyboard keys.
According to Patently Apple, this is Apple’s fourth cellular-based MacBook-related patent over the past year and the second to deal with disguising the cellular antenna itself. Could we be seeing a 3G or 4G-capable MacBook in the future?
The design and positioning of an antenna in a device is an important issue Apple is fully aware of. Last summer, it was discovered that the iPhone 4’s reception significantly dropped when a user would touch one of its antenna bands. And in the past, MacBook Pro owners have had difficulties getting Bluetooth accessories, like the Magic Mouse, to play nice due to the Bluetooth antenna positioning in the notebook. Recently, a 2007 MacBook Pro prototype with a Mag-safe-style rabbit-ear 3G antenna was racking up big bucks on eBay before the auction was pulled.
