BusinessInsider published an interesting interview of Atakan Peker, the "Liquidmetal" inventor. He is commenting his invention and how liquidmetal (trademark for amorphous alloys) can bring advantages of glass and metal in a new material. He also discusses the potential usage, but also clearly state that he does not think it can already be used for a notebook enclosure, as investment will be around 300-500 million USD with 2-4 years R&D for making volume production a reality.
However, when talking about Apple and Liquidmetal, he gives an interesting view:
I expect Liquidmetal application in two ways: First evolutionary substitution of current materials and secondly, and more importantly, in a breakthrough product made only possible by Liquidmetal technology. Apple’s exclusively licensing a new material technology (specifically for casing and enclosures) is a first in the industry.
This is very exciting. Therefore, I expect Apple to use this technology in a breakthrough product. Such product will likely bring an innovative user interface and industrial design together, and will also be very difficult to copy or duplicate with other material technologies.
