Apple’s shift to Intel really all about Hollywood, owning the living room, and Transitive

“I guess Apple will move to Intel, and they’re relying on a fast, seamless emulator to do it. But it’s really about Hollywood: Apple’s looking to transform the movie industry the same way the iPod and iTunes changed the music business,” Leander Kahney writes for The Cult of Mac Blog for Wired News. “As initially reported, there a couple of big problems with Apple moving to Intel. The biggest is shifting all the Mac software to a new platform. Apple apparently mulled moving to Intel a few years ago, when Motorola’s chip development fell woefully behind, but Steve Jobs nixed it because of the massive disruption it would cause developers.”

Kahney writes, “What’s new this time is a fast, transparent, universal emulator from Transitive, a Silicon Valley startup. Transitive’s QuickTransit allows any software to run on any hardware with no performance hit, or so the company claims… But why would Apple do this? Because Apple wants Intel’s new Pentium D chips. Released just few days ago, the dual-core chips include a hardware copy protection scheme that prevents ‘unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials from the motherboard,’ according to PC World. Apple — or rather, Hollywood — wants the Pentium D to secure an online movie store (iFlicks if you will), that will allow consumers to buy or rent new movies on demand, over the Internet. According to News.com, the Intel transition will occur first in the summer with the Mac mini, which I’ll bet will become a mini-Tivo-cum-home-server.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: If Jobs’ WWDC keynote doesn’t hurry the hell up, we might completely lose our minds! Oh, and if Jobs is planning to subject Mac users to a switch to Intel just so Apple can sell and rent movies online, he’d better have a nice thick protective vest on underneath that mock turtleneck.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
MacDailyNews to present live Steve Jobs’ WWDC Keynote coverage – June 06, 2005

RUMOR: Apple planning Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ release for x86 PCs? – February 25, 2005 (Transitive Technologies)
Startup claims ‘near-universal emulator’ allows any software to run all platforms with almost no performance hit – September 13, 2004 (Transitive Technologies)

iPod success opens door to Mac OS X on Intel – March 04, 2004

Why would Apple switch? PowerPC is smaller, more efficient, cheaper than comparable Intel chips – June 05, 2005
Intel Inside Apple Macs? – June 04, 2005
Intel in Macs?! How’s Apple CEO Steve Jobs going to spin that switch? – June 04, 2005
Apple to switch to Intel chips starting in 2006 – CNET [updated] – June 03, 2005
Apple and Microsoft battle for control of future living rooms – June 01, 2005
Anticipation, rumors build ahead of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ June 6 WWDC keynote – May 27, 2005
Intel CEO Otellini: If you want security now, buy a Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC – May 25, 2005
Analyst: Apple-Intel rumor ‘hogwash’ (today marks 11th month that Jobs’ promised 3GHz G5 is late) – May 23, 2005
Apple bundles videos with select music albums via iTunes Music Store – May 10, 2005
Apple releases iTunes 4.8; now supports QuickTime video along with contact, calendar transfers – May 09, 2005
With Mac mini Apple CEO Jobs attacks the Achilles heel of Windows dominance: the living room – January 14, 2005
Apple Computer will own the living room, not Microsoft – January 10, 2005
Can Apple crack the living-room conundrum before Microsoft? – December 30, 2004
NY Times: Can Steve Jobs put Apple in the center of your living room? – March 23, 2004

76 Comments

  1. I’ve got 2,500 shares riding on this one. I will either make a bundle or loose a bundle tomorrow morning. Here’s hoping for the former.

    Go SJ!

    MW = “changes”, no kidding!

  2. If steve jobs lets apple go to intel chips then Apple will lose its market share over night!

    I for one will NOT buy all my apps AGAIN just to run them on a intel mac!

    If Apple are gonna do this then I might as well move to windows XP – as the difference between macs and windows will be blurred at best.

    Might as well go the whole hog and just switch to windows!

    – Never thought I would ever say this – being a dedicated mac user for over 1 years!

  3. When SJ cancelled the clone program, I was upset and Apple stock went up.
    When SJ shook hand with BG, I was sure it was the end of Apple, but Apple stock soared.
    When SJ open sourced Darwin, I was happy, but Apple stock did not do well.
    Now with Intel switch, I am disappointed. Must be a good sign.

  4. He IS planning to subject…. etc, etc.

    Go read the posts by someone named “As Seen on TV” over on Slashdot. Many people believe this poster to be Steve Jobs. ASOT is a very, very strong believer in intellectual property rights, and has a very cold, corporate viewpoint about what Apple should do for the benefit of its shareholders. He clearly gives the idea that Apple does not build its plans around geeks (which can be loosely defined as people who read MDN)

  5. i just can’t see them doing something that people are predicting; i think there is more to this, and no one has guessed what is really going to happen. switching to x86 is probably not what is going to happen, but other than that, i don’t have a clue what they might have up their sleeves.
    magic word is “question.” you just can’t make this stuff up.

  6. you all are pathetic. the mainstream media reports this every year, expecting apple to move to intel because it is the *logical choice* in their view. when it gets down to it all that happens is that apple’s stock inflates right before every keynote and then shareholders at WSJ and C|NET sell off right before the keynote, making a tidy profit along the way.

    they don’t want you to understand that powerpc is just now beginning to show it’s distinct performance advantages, and that apple would be stupid to switch to x86 at this point. it’s the same principle for why changing lanes in traffic will never get you anywhere faster.

  7. Some advice: Sit back from your computer and think about how stupid this whole idea is. If Apple moved to Intel they would be forcing the developer of the many thousand’s of apps that run nativley on OS X to rewrite their apps, all of the mac users would have to rebuy *all* of their software. Intel’s chips are bigger, hotter, more expensive and slower than Apple’s current lineup. This whole “no 3GHz in a year” reason for switching to Intel doesn’t fly. Intel said that they would be past 4GHz by about the same time the G5 was supposed to be at 3GHz. last time I checked intel is only upto 3.8GHz. The G5 has gone from 2GHz to 2.7Ghz in 24months, a 35% increase. The P4 has gone from 3.2GHz to 3.8GHz in the same amount of time, which is only a 18.75% increase.
    MW-stock ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”LOL” style=”border:0;” />

  8. You guys are nuts. It’s not about the hardware, it’s about the OS! I for one will be tickled silly to be able to buy a copy of OS X for my home made system and throw Gate’s trash OS in the garbage where it belongs. I personally think Bill Gate’s worst nightmare is an Intel machine running Mac OS X. Lets face it, it’s something he just won’t be able to compete with.

  9. This is all so funny.

    The tech media is in such an unusual dilema they don’t know what to do :

    On the one hand they need to write about Apple cause that’s where the news is. On the other hand, they want their readers to find familiar information (buzz words) they can relate to (at least in the headlines).

    This is what happens when selling news takes precedence over publishing information.

    So, in order to write about Apple the press feels they need to make it an Intel topic and invent conspiration theories in the process of getting there. How they manage to get [respectable] anal-ysts to concur is beyond me.

    … pathetic.

    Intel chips in Macintosh computers, yes why not (probably already happened). Intel as the main CPU, come on let’s be serious.

  10. Come to think of it, there is one way Apple could incorporate an Intel CPU in a Mac in a way that would please both its existing customers and help sell more Macs :

    They could add it as a secondary CPU and build an “emulator” for Windows running natively inside the Mac (something integrated like Classic). It wouldnt realy be an emulator but it would certainly beat the crap out of Virtual Pc.

    Probably not going to happen either but hey, we’re in the dream world right now aren’t we.

  11. I heard about this new emulation software months ago and thought it would pan out that we could run windows apps (read games) on PPC. I never thought it would go the other way but if they can do it without taking a performance hit then it might be a possibility. Traditionally being a hardware company, you wouldn’t expect them to let OS X run on home made computers tho and I believe somebody has said something about other elements than the chip which would keep them proprietary.

    Man, if this is all true it is gonna throw me in a major quandary. I was all set to buy a PowerMac but the right path might not be so clear after the keynote tomorrow. I am NOT EVER gonna be switching to windows tho so whatever Steve comes up with had better make sense.

  12. Isnt it funny how Sony and MS are moving there game consules to powerpc type chips. The Xbox has always been a pc . my firends have them and hack them about as they know how to muck about with PC hardware/software. so the xbox 360 is seen running on powerpc’s to demo them but evidently NOT OSX OS running it. Evidently they have to emulate the xbox 360 to play current xbox games.
    This is all soundling like a “switcharoo” isn’t
    Will Apple become Microsot and Microsoft become Apple (hardware that is .
    It is a crazy time we live in isnt it

  13. inaminit, you’ve got it backwards. apple is a computer company…it sells such great software so people will buy the hardware. if os x wasn’t amazing, why would I buy apple hardware? how many linux users run their os on apple hardware? computer hardware doesn’t exactly sell itself, and apple has learned that to sell computers, you have to sell everything about them…the hardware, the software, the whole experience. IF (and it’s a big if) apple switches to x86…you will NOT be able to run os x on a home-built computer…that’s just not how apple works (and survives).

  14. If it really is all about the DRM capabilty of Intel’s dual-core Pentium D, then I’m even more convinced that Apple has a home media device up its sleeve, and that x86 won’t be used in Macs any time soon. As many others have noted, developers would have a foaming fit at the thought of having to switch architectures, especially right after the release of Tiger. (Transitive is still vaporware as far as I’m concerned), and such an announcement would cause hardware sales to evaporate. It makes more sense however, if Apple announced a living room box a la Tivo dedicated to managing and downloading movies, with a chip that features hardware DRM. The movie studios and other content providers would find this far more palatable. Remember the hoops Jobs had to jump through to get the record companies on board iTMS; it would be much worse dealing with movie studios.

  15. inaminit:

    Its not about hardware. Its not about the OS.

    Its about software and the massive disruption that two incompatible machine codes will place upon developers and consumers.

    Why do people assume that Gates would be threatened by a chaotic processor switch by Apple? Even long-term, the switch would hardly be a threat to Microsoft. And in the short term, it would be a major threat to Apple.

    It ain’t gonna happen.

    I’m curious as to why you would be “tickled silly” to run OSX on your homemade box. Aside from Dashboard and MAYBE Safari, what software would you be able to run?

  16. Maybe the Intel chip will only be used in the iHub device?

    Even if they do move the whole OS to Intel, they stand to lose their 2% share but might attract a sizeable chunk of the other 98%.

  17. Compared to M$, Apple is a small software company.

    I’ve been thinking about the resources that creating a Pentium D-specific version of Xcode would require. Apple has been working for 18+ months on Tiger. I cannot believe that they would have taken people off Tiger and devoted them to the development of an x86 Xcode.

    http://developer.apple.com/macosx/xcode2.html

    Therefore, I have to assume that there is no feasible way a x86 machine running OSX is about to be introduced. I concur that an application-specific, home media box running some single-purpose (no Finder) OSX derivitive is possible. But I doubt even that, as it is not the “Apple Way” of doing things.

    I can’t wait to post “I told ya so” in less than 24 hours.

  18. The author’s argument makes not sense. If Intel can emulate PPC, then can’t PPC emulate x86? Besides what I remember about Transitive is that it run at about 80%, not 100% that’s rediculous. There will be much code that has to be emulated on a per-instruction basis too because the Transitive system emulated blocks of code that is cached.

    I don’t beleive it. There are huge holes. iTunes and iPod DRM’d music, why would hardware DRM on a Mac for movies be outside of the grasp of Apple, would Steve Jobs roll over so quickly after so masterful a win? I don’t think so.

    Just the same old rumor coming ’round.

  19. Something has got to give with all this tension!

    First the waiting for the release of OS X Tiger. Hanging around my front porch waiting for the UPS dude. And now this potential watershed moment in my Mac life!

    Damd this waiting and suspense! Damd it all to hell!

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”gulp” style=”border:0;” />

  20. All I can say is that if my shiny new PowerMac, Powerbook, & Mini all become a legacy architecture by tomorrow afternoon, that’s the last Apple product I will buy. I felt edgy buying into proprietary hardware, but if the proverbial rug gets pulled out from under me, hello Linux.

    Think of the businesses. Apple will lose ALL credibility in the corporate space. Single vendor hardware typically is a no-no, but I wouldn’t want to be the IT director of a large Mac based infrastructure that suddenly and without any warnings, find that all that hardware/software needs to be ported all over again.

    Dell sucks, but one of the reasons they’re successful in the corporate world is that they publish a hardware ROADMAP. With Apple; it’s surprises. And businesses DON’T LIKE SURPRISES.

  21. I’m placing my bets on a iPod Video player with an Intel chip inside, the new Pentium D with DRM built in. You can’t tell me Apple is switching when it looks like IBM has finally got the PowerPC at triple-core and 3.2GHz (Xbox 360).

  22. Please stop writing “If Apple uses Intel chips. Apple will have to re-write all its software”

    Instead, scroll back up to the top of this page and read the artical snip.

    If you’re confused click on the “full artical here” link and read.

    If you’re still confused click on the “or so the company claims” link and read.

    I apologize to those of you who actually read before you post.

    This product is similar to Virtual PC except it allows OSX to run on an Intel Chip (for our discussion) so well, that apparently only an extreme power user will see the difference.

    Power users are not going to be abandon. I’m sure Apple will continue to upgrade the G5 product line allowing a smooth transition. Who knows maybe the pentium D chips with the Transitive emulator will perform quite well.

  23. I wanted to know if all the “experts” on these message boards who love to claim they know better than….well just about everybody will come back and eat their words if Demi-God Jobs comes out tomorrow and proclaims Apple and Intel a match made in heaven. I mean seriously eat their words. Not the typical “well I guess I understand why they are doing it” or the “this move was inevitable”, I want to hear blunt honesty. Something like “I guess I am not the all knowing expert I always thought I was”, “wow Jobs must really not read my messages and see how upset this makes me” or more importantly “maybe sitting in my living room and typing away on my keyboard doesn’t give me the kind of insight I believed I had into Apple’s inner workings.” Just wondering…..

    Now I don’t know if they will make this move or not. I would think not but then again who the hell am I to be sure one way or the other? What the hell do I know about Apple’s best business interests? Or better yet, what do all of you?

    So if crow is on the menu tomorrow I just want to know if all the appropriate parties are going to eat up.

  24. Bandit Bill:

    Can’t stop writing it cuz Transitive is vaporware.

    Also, the main premise of this article (in which you place so much credence) is flawed. If Apple’s video ambitions rely on a critical mass of computers utilizing HARDWARE IP protection, than the iTunes/iVideo store is dead in the water. There is no existing market.

    This “download a video” technology is unlikely to be rapidly adopted, like say DVD.

    According to TiVo’s website, there are only 1.9 million TiVo subscribers. Nothing to scoff at, but not world-shattering. How many satelite radio receivers are there in the wild? Far fewer than iPods. Dramatically fewer than Macs/PCs.

    These are the hardware technologies Apple would be competing against. Apple would be doomed like a Napster or a BuyMusic.com.

    The only viable solution is cross-platform software and existing hardware.

  25. What is everyone talking about. Intel in a Mac is not news. Apple needs something now, product in a box, or better yet, tomorrow, to keep the momentum of Tiger, Mac mini and the G5’s going into the holiday season. G5 laptops, 3ghz+ dual core G5, G5’s across the entire line of Apple products. And maybe a new product. This is big news, not freak-en Intel. The public and Apple’s shareholders aren’t going to wait two years before they see more powerful Intel hardware than todays IBM PPC. This talk of Intel was started by the PC pundits. Their future jobs are at stake. The only way Intel will make the CPU’s that go into Macs is if IBM licenses them to make the PPC. Even IBM uses Intel inside their boxes. Tests of the 2.5ghz Mac G5 against the fastest Intel show a very slight lead over Apple and the damn thing cost a lot more money then the Apple G5. Apple is not going to take a step backwards. There are severe hardware and software issues to solve before going to x86 systems. You would think Apple would first sue IBM for not producing results as promised or make them license the PPC before going to Intel for their x86 CPU.

  26. –Solar Flare–
    “I for one will NOT buy all my apps AGAIN just to run them on a intel mac!”

    You want to move to Windows XP and buy all new apps, and then do it again with Longhore, because you don’t want to “buy all my apps AGAIN”

    Stick with the Mac! By the time you purchase an Intel Mac you will most likely have already upgraded your apps for other reasons. And they will run natively on both platforms.

    Then again it is a rumor, it think, right? What did the New York Times confirm again?

    Magic Word “knew” (sorry, I couldn’t pass that one up.)

  27. Dear “Just Wondering,”

    To be fair, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the readers of MDN are in fact fairly expert in Apple’s business. For example, I have been using Macs for 21 years, programming Mac software for a living for 18, and have been an Apple shareholder for 12 years. I have closely observed Apple’s spectacular successes and failures over the years.

    That doesn’t mean that any of us claims to be, as you say we claim to be, “all knowing” experts. That would be a pretty outrageous, even blasphemous, claim. But it does mean that we’re not all blathering hacks holed up in our living rooms chain smoking and playing armchair CEO as you suggest.

  28. Yeah, because Apple and IBM can’t make their own DRM.

    And even better, Apple really wants to use DRM controlled by Microsoft.

    MDN, think things through before you retread opinion found on the web. You’re better than this.

  29. I’m not buying….still too many holes. There will have to be some major advancements announced if the whole line is to be moved to Intel. The key still is, the articles all say Intel, not x86.

    Tomorrow will be the first time that I will be upset that I am on the East Coast. Not till after 1 PM will I know the truth……

  30. ‘Just Wondering’ I’m with you on that!

    For all you arm chair “Apple CEO’s”, “Mac Experts”, “Analysts” and what not, if iCon throws everyone a curve ball tomorrow or sometime soon, prove you got some and admit your ignorant stupidity with some style and grace.

    For those needed help with this, it goes something like this: “Yummy (licks lips and fingers), crow”.

    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”raspberry” style=”border:0;” />

  31. I don’t understand why it would be bye bye apple if they switched to intel.

    I may agree if it were a switch to x86, but its clearly not, and Intel does more than just x86

  32. Hey HedgeHog,

    Here’s a temporal lesson.

    No one actually has to wait longer than anyone else to know what the truth is on this matter. Everyone gets to find out the same “truth” at the same moment, no matter what time the clock says, because Steve Jobs will only be giving his keynote address one time.

    … that is, unless you believe in parallel universes.

    It’s all relative.

  33. Is it possible that Apple can support two architectures?

    I know I know – you’re already screaming “no you fool!” ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”rolleyes” style=”border:0;” />

    But just ‘hear’ me out…

    Is it at all possible that the “Apple Tablet” device seen recently, and also the Mac Mini (or similar) could be designed around an Intel based architecture (with necessary copy-protection imbedded) for an Apple Media server type product for the “lounge room”????

    What I am getting at, is that this device could be based on a revised version of OS X, it would be PURPOSE built for media, and could even include a recompiled version of iLife (maybe even iWork).

    In this way there is NO NEED for software developers to re-do software, as the PowerMac and iMac line remain on the Power PC platform (I am still wondering what they will do about Altivec – Intel don’t have anything that comes close!).

    As this “Apple media server” is OS X based, it could EASILY network with OS X Tiger.

    So I know your asking why do it at all??

    IBM don’t have the copyright protection system, and as it has been mentioned it is possible this Intel deal is being driven by the “iFilms” possibilities.

    To me this does a number of things:

    1)Allows Apple to get into the movie equivalent of iTunes Music Store.
    2)Sticks a rocket up IBM (i.e. we are committed to the PowerPC architecture, which we still think is superior for computing, however we now have an insurance policy if you guys falter, or start pulling out yourselves)
    3)Lets Apple introduce more Windows users to OS X (albeit a Media Server version), and can then “up-sell” them to a PowerPC Apple Mac with OS X tiger (which of course will be able to SEAMLESSLY connect to their Apple Media Server due to Bonjour and the whole Apple experience.
    4)If they supply API’s etc to the “media server” version of OS X, 3rd party developers can start to develop OS X on x86 which are multimedia related (i.e. games – Intel gets its chips back in the lounge room!)
    5)The whole thing would make the boys at Redmond s$@t bricks!!!

    I really think that if you look at what Steve has been doing recently – this is a possible scenario. It lets Steve realise the media centre concept, without making his “real computers” (based on PowerPC) into small boxes to be hidden in a cupboard (you don’t need great industrial design to make a black box in a cupboard). It kicks Microsoft in the shins. It satisfies Hollywood enough about copy-protection to allow Apple to launch “iMovie Film Store”. It works for Intel – they aren’t locked out of the living room by IBM. It puts IBM on notice, keep dragging your heels, and we have a way out. AND most importantly, it opens up new markets (with a new architecture) WITHOUT pissing off the existing Mac fanatics!!!!

    Of course its just my 2 cents!
    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

    Luke

  34. What I find interesting is the tone of the entire discussion…as in, Apple is in potentially really deep sh*t in the mid to long term if they don´t find a solution to their (never before recognized ) Processor problem. A problem that has never been acknowledged by Apple or IBM other than a delay.

    Would you have bought your new G5 if you knew that Apple was going to switch to a different, maybe better, processor????

  35. I can see Apple’s next advertising campaign – entitled ‘Mohammed and the Mountain’ …

    Steve Jobs… white background… “We’re switching”

  36. Does anyone remember that CNET is abunch o jerks desperately milking anything that gives them headlines?? Look at how yet another one of their articles has got us all warped.
    I again say that I will run around our business naked 5 times if Apple makes the switch to Intel.
    Anyone with a brain knows it don’t make sense.

  37. Why would Apple switch to Intel when Micro$in, Sony, & Nintendo have switched to a derivitive of the G5 processor. If Intel had something cool up their sleeve, then would’nt their cronies be first in line before Apple?

  38. This WHOLE thing is an elaborate plot by MS, Dell and Intel to try and pull the rug from under Apple. This evil axis want to buy time while XP remains inferior to OSX. All the talk about how better the Intel chips are and how poor the IBM chips are will be extremely damaging for Apple if Jobs does not announce the move to Intel today.

    On which basis I sincerely hope that the rumour is true.

    (muted) Go Apple! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”long face” style=”border:0;” />

  39. :ahhhh:

    Pipe dreams…

    I don’t think any of this speculation means much…
    let the chief speak today.

    One thing’s for sure…it’ll be a heavy trading day for the AAPL stock if the report rings true.

    Better play your cards right.

    <:lol:>|<:lol:>

    CT†

  40. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”shock” style=”border:0;” />

    Pipe dreams…

    I don’t think any of this speculation means much…
    let the chief speak today.

    One thing’s for sure…it’ll be a heavy trading day for the AAPL stock if the report rings true.

    Better play your cards right.

    <:lol:>|<:lol:>

    CTï

  41. Newmanstein: ” I again say that I will run around our business naked 5 times if Apple makes the switch to Intel. “

    I sure hope you are a good-looking woman with a nice set of ta-tas! If not, run around Microsoft….

  42. I’m not dumb, I know that we will find out all at the same time. My point is, I have to be in to work at 8 AM. EST, which means 6 hours awake time till the announcement. If I were on the West Coast, only 3 awake hours. My hours pass by much faster when I’m asleep. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”rolleyes” style=”border:0;” />

  43. If Apple move to intel chips does that mean I could go out and by a Dell whatever Laptop at £300 and install OS X on it?

    If so – Apple better be VERY careful if they are gonna go intel – because theyre hardware business with vanish over night!

    Bye bye Apple hardware division!

  44. could it be …
    … that Intel will make the chip for the Apple Media Center?
    Like, kind of a mac mini for renting buying Video & Audio, living room only, with that Intel DRM chip, a stripped down version of OS X, and only Apple will distribute programs, and no other apps run on it / are supposed to run on it?
    therefore, a true additional CPU for your household – file swapping with your primary computer is not possible (aside from maybe feeding it your existing MP3 collection, file “export” will be impossible) so no-one else has to write / change / recompile applications (obviously some geeks will find a way sooner or later, Apple will voice it´s anger publicly, but at least it´s won´t have to pay programmers nor p*** off it´s core customers / programmers)

    my €.04
    Matt

  45. First of all, since it is such an unbelievably stupid thing to require all software to be re-written to work on a different CPU – you have to figure there is something to address that.
    Second, and related, is that NextStep (the real foundation of OS X and SJ’s previous computer company) could run on a varity of platforms and the apps were made as a “Fat Binary” which included everything needed to run on whatever CPU the computer was using (at least this is how my simple understanding has it). Fast forward a decade or so and maybe this is where we are. Sounds fine to me, after all, what does it matter who makes the CPU as long as it runs OS X and all one’s existing software, which it will have to or else Apple will no longer have any business at all?
    As far as all the vitriol directed at Intel, take a look inside any Mac and I bet you will see at least a few chips with a big ole Intel printed on them – maybe not a CPU but plenty of other stuff.

  46. What’s wrong with a set of products (like the mini) having an Intel Pentium D aimed towards the home entertainment market, and staying PPC for the personal computing/workstation/server markets?

    The likes of mini is the high-volume, low-margin product which will have a proven supplier in Intel. The PPC market (which currently has a better road map) can stay with the PPC.

    I also think that WiMax and XScale will make its way into other Apple products, too.

  47. Newmanstein: ” I again say that I will run around our business naked 5 times if Apple makes the switch to Intel. “

    It doesn’t count if you do it at 3 a.m. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

  48. It is the OS as many people say,

    and

    MS makes it money from their software not hardware

    Then

    Apple should just do likewise and drop their beautiful hardware and fight with what everyone claims it is ” the OS”

    I don’t like it but makes sense.

  49. Transitive? What’s that? ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> Do you rub it on a Rosetta stone? Or maybe Rosetta is Transitive?

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