PowerBook nano one step closer to reality?

 A story in the Taipai Times reports that Topology research analyst Simon Yang is predicting that Apple will introduce new "light-weight [notebooks] with a stylish design aimed at luring female users." According to Yang the new Apple portables are expected to "include 12-inch notebooks weighing in at 1.5kg (3.3 lbs) as well as 14-inch models below 2kg (4.4 lbs)." This would fit my requirements for a PowerBook nano quite nicely, thank you.

If true, the new 12-inch model (he doesn't specify if they're PowerBooks or iBooks) would be about 33 percent lighter than the current iBook 12-inch (2.2kg/4.9lbs) and 29 percent lighter than the current PowerBook 12-inch (2.1kg/4.6lbs). The new 14-inch portable would weigh in at 33 percent lighter than the current iBook 14-inch (2.7kg/5.9lbs) and 22 percent lighter than the PowerBook 15-inch (2.5kg/5.6lbs).

Yang goes on to say that "the iPod digital-music-player series have been selling like hot cakes because of the large storage size they offer and their fashionable exterior, the "fondness effect" will be passed on to Apple notebooks." There's no mention as to how they're going to remove the extra weight (i.e. by dropping the optical drive) but the prediction would be music to the ears of notebook buyers that are in the market for a new machine.