“The coming year for Apple Computer is full of questions, and many of them are connected one way or another with the switch to using microprocessors from Intel. How Apple will or won’t build around this or that Intel platform is likely to be answered when CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage at the annual Macworld conference on Jan. 10,” Arik Hesseldahl reports for BusinessWeek. “But to me, a more interesting question is one that goes straight to the heart of the relationship between Apple and its newest chip supplier. As Apple includes Intel’s chips inside its machines, will it also point to the Intel brand on the outside? In particular, will Apple place an Intel medallion on computers, or mention Intel in the ads for computers that house Intel chips? This would be a good moment to recall what at least one customer has called the ‘cocaine’ of the computer industry: Intel’s marketing subsidies — a program known as ‘Intel Inside,’ named for the ubiquitous logo, labels, and audio-visual cues that show up in the various print and electronic advertising efforts of PC makers that use Intel chips.”
“For every Intel chip a PC company buys, it gets some cash back, calculated as a percentage of its ad budget. For a company that ran a $7.5 billion profit on sales of $34.2 billion in its 2004 fiscal year, Intel can well afford to spread a little marketing cash around,” Hesseldahl writes. “Is Apple going to accept ‘Intel Inside’ money and all that goes with it?”
Hesseldahl doesn’t think Apple will slap Intel stickers on Mac cases or add Intel chimes to the end of Apple’s nonexistent Mac TV commercials, but they may still get Intel’s “Intel Inside” money. “While Intel’s name and its many brands are among the most recognizable in the world, the name doesn’t inspire the same degree of loyalty that Apple’s does,” Hesseldahl writes. “While millions know who Intel is and what a Pentium chip is, the names don’t necessarily make hearts skip a beat the way they do at the mention of the iPod, or the Mac… One of Intel’s big hopes in landing Apple as a customer is that some of Apple’s coolness and customer loyalty will rub off. Intel will no doubt get its share of the credit for the fruits of the alliance, perhaps a home-entertainment computer that makes previous Microsoft-led efforts in that arena look positively primitive. That will no doubt create positive buzz for Intel and help it shed at least some of the taint of being part of the ‘Wintel’ alliance with Microsoft. And that may be all the incentive Intel needs to cut Apple slack that it won’t give other PC makers.”
Full article here.
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I’m gonna buy a Microsoft sticker.
I’m gonna buy a MacTel.
I’m gonna put my Microsoft sticker on my MacTel when I install XP on it.
😀
Awww screw it… I’ll put an Intel Insider sticker on that puppy too.
😀
I’m gonna buy a Microsoft sticker.
I’m gonna buy a MacTel.
I’m gonna put my Microsoft sticker on my MacTel when I install XP on it.
😀
Awww screw it… I’ll put an Intel Insider sticker on that puppy too.
😀
I’m gonna buy a Microsoft sticker.
I’m gonna buy a MacTel.
I’m gonna put my Microsoft sticker on my MacTel when I install XP on it.
😀
Awww screw it… I’ll put an Intel Insider sticker on that puppy too.
😀
I’m gonna buy a Microsoft sticker.
I’m gonna buy a MacTel.
I’m gonna put my Microsoft sticker on my MacTel when I install XP on it.
😀
Awww screw it… I’ll put an Intel Insider sticker on that puppy too.
😀
MDN: “…add Intel chimes to the end of Apple’s nonexistent Mac TV commercials…”
ROTFLMFAO!
Maybe Apple will finally advertise Macs in 2006?
I don’t really care that the computers come slathered with sticker all over them, but what does bother me is that people leave them on! Maybe if your a big fan of Intel or USB2.0 or what have you, you could leave that sticker on there, but everybodies PC looks like a stores floor model.
My father in-law recently bought a HP and I think it had over 60% coverage of stickers. It was rediculous. It has a sticker next to each port (that was actually bigger than the port) that said what it was( USB2.0, headphone, etc.) and stickers cover each drive door stating what it was. It had additional stickes stating other statitics like memory, processor model and speed. It also had the multi-port memory card reader thing and that unleashed at least 6 more stickers about the different cards and being Digital Photo ready, blah, blah, blah. Ugly!
Suffered in pain enough? Now you will die!
The answer is, “No”. Why do you think the iPods no longer use Firewire? The deal was struck – Apple is not required to plaster stickers on their hardware and not required to add the Intel trailer to Apple commercials in return for exclusivity of Intel’s USB technology in the iPods.
Personally I hate to refer to the new machines as Mactels. Sheesh, what could be lamer or more awkward?
‘Powermac’ is fine, sounds good, easy to say, and doesn’t need to be retired just because a component changes. Hopefully the new processor will have some designation that allows us to differentiate it elegantly without having to change the model name (as with the IBM G-Series). Or call it an X86 Powermac (assuming X86 will still apply), for example. But Mactel? It just doesn’t sing, from a marketing standpoint.
Should we change the Powerbooks to Intelibooks? or Bookintels? I think not.
I hope they do put them on, so I can make a fortune selling my Apple Intel Sticker Removal Kit
“OOOOOOO, Intel stickers on my widdle mac! I think I’m gonna wet my widdle panties!”
Suck it up you bunch of slack jawed faries! The Steve has spoken! How dare you go against The Steve’s wishes!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Slack jawed faries!
If they knock $200 off the cost of a new Powerbook you can put 2 Intel stickers, an ATI sticker and a Mac OS X sticker on it.
I remove all the stickers from my new Windows laptops even before I go on the internet to try to get infected, ah, download upgrades.
USB on iPods is all about selling iPods to PC owners. Sure Macs have had Firewire for some time, Many PCs still don’t come with Firewire. If Apple wants to sell iPods to windows losers, than they need to go USB. They dropped Firewire alltogether becuase cost to support both. Of course I’m sure Intel likes it.
^ Hey Reverse Dork, your message would be sooooo much more effective if you could actually spell “Fairies”!
Fairy.
If they put the logo on the box, it will be laser engraved.
MDN Magic Word: Fine, as in, “That is not fine with me.”
Think about this from a typical person who doesn’t know anything about computers. The Intel chime and branding is quite effective and many people out there associate Intel with chips that work in computers. If Apple advertised and put this Chime at the end of their commercials, it would make a lot of people think that getting an Apple isn’t as scary as they previously thought. It will alleviate some of their fears that they are getting some strange computer. So, this will ease some people’s minds and Apple will get paid for it – that makes sense to me. As for the stickers, I can’t see Ives allowing that to ruin his designs….
WHO THE HELL CARES IF THERE IS SOME STUPID STICKER ON THE OUTSIDE. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE BLOODY STICKER THEN TAKE IT OFF! I FOR ONE AM GOING TO PUT A STICKER ON IT, JUST TO SPITE ALL THE ASSININE USERS HERE.
I could accept any reference to “Intel Inside” pasted, lasered, stuck or engraved anywhere on the new Macs as long as the only time I’d have to see it would be when I turned my computer over or opened it up.
The only logo I want to see when I’m doing anything else is the Mac logo.
Period.
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gorufo – DEAR GOD NO!!! DONT DO IT. DONT PUT STICKERS ON YOUR MAC. I CANT TAKE IT, IT CANT! WHAT’S WITH MY CAPS LOCK KEY?
For those suggesting we just “take off” the Intel sticker, have you ever tried? My work laptop has a Centrino “sticker” that’s actually a solid miniature plaque. It can’t be pried off without a great deal of effort, and leaves behind this sticky goo that can’t easily be removed without nail polish remover or paint thinner, neither of which I have on hand. So removing it isn’t worth it.
(Besides, removing the sticker from it wouldn’t change the fact that it’s a crappy Lenovo Windows machine.)
i bet apple will adopt a combo name like powerbook yonah or macmini viiv.
will be ALL OVER Apple marketing stuff.
Just not on the computers themselves, or maybe just on the back.
That’s OK, just keep your stickers to yourself, Intel!
In the wintel world, the intel inside sticker usually goes into a “badge box”. Taking it off would leave a blank hole. Not to mention some sticky residue. Maybe a boring beige box looks ok with a blank badge box slimed with sticky glue remains, but the finish on a Mac would look pretty badge if the sticker was just pulled off. Some kind of slovent might remove the goo, but it would kill the luster on an iMac G5 or Mac mini.
NO STICKERS!
I see a new entrepreneurial opportunity – new badges to replace the old Intel badge that gets removed from the badge box during the first 30 sec of ownership.
Hey Dipshit:
Can’t find nothing but a typo huh? Must like the rest of the comment though. Hang on a second, I gotta pry your mamma’s lips off my bung hole, she has something to tell you.