PhotoFast MacBook Air SSD pulled at Apple's behest

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 01 December 2010 08:25

Your IT - Mobility

PhotoFast's fast SSD kit for the new MacBook Air has proved short lived. The device has been taken off the market, apparently due to pressure from Apple.

Within days of the new MacBook Air's debut, PhotoFast announced a replacement SSD kit (GM2 SFV1 Air) that provided 256GB of storage with 30% better performance. The kit also included a compact USB case to simplify cloning the factory-installed drive and then using the removed SSD as an external storage device.

According to reports apparently originating at 9to5Mac, PhotoFast has complied with a request from Apple to stop production of the device.

9to5Mac suggested that PhotoFast went along with Apple's request because it did not want to harm its iPad/iPhone accessories business. The company is a participant in Apple's MFi licensing program which (among other things) provides access to the proprietary connector and other components needed to make accessories for the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

But what does Apple stand to gain? It does not offer a 256GB storage option for the 11in MacBook Air, only on the 13in model. Surely the main attraction of the 11in model is its compact dimensions, so potential buyers are unlikely to select a 13in configuration just for the extra storage.

From that perspective, arbitrarily blocking the PhotoFast kit hurts Apple.

What's the alternative? See page 2.