We spoke to a source this weekend in Taipei who told us that Apple are preparing a $799 Macbook Air for release in either August or September this year. This will be bad news for Intel who are intensely targeting their UltraBook platform to the enthusiast audience. The price so far as been prohibitive for many.

The cut price Macbook Air could hold back sales of the Ultrabook computers, especially as the prices are currently greater. Intel have pumped in $300 million to help development of the platform with various partners. They have also invested another $100 million to develop their own application store for the platform. Many believe that the success of the UltraBook platform is directly linked to the success of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system.

Right now, you can buy the 11 inch Macbook Air with 64GB storage for $999. The 128GB version is priced at $1,199. If Apple manage to release a $799 version of the machine it will assuredly target a new audience who can't afford the super slim Apple computer. Our sources say that the United Kingdom should get the new Macbook Air for around £749.

Kitguru says: Apple preempting a possible Intel attack?

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