1) Nobody says they have to abandon the PPC. In fact building x86 Mac boxes could just be another business like the iPod is another business. They could probably sell 100,000 high powered, off the shelf Athlon boxes, at a premium above what they make now, to curious nerds. They might not make much on them but what exactly would that hurt? A sideline experiment that might even make a few bucks, and would certainly give impetus to Moto/IBM.
2) Linux runs on both platforms. Next ran on x86. Apple has OSX running on x86.
3) I was just pointing out the flaw in the argument that "Apple (OSX) can't compete on a level playing field".
4) Buying AIM is one avenue they could take. I'm skeptical it would be worth the money, probably ALL of Apples cash. Considering the trouble Apple has had with DDR, I'm not sure Apple is a very good candidate to run a hardware business as complicated as chip design and production.
5) If the present trend keeps up here's how it will look: PPC 2Ghz vs x86 4Ghz; PPC 4Ghz vs x86 8Ghz; PPC 8Ghz vs x86 16Ghz. This could be conservative. It could end up PPC 8Ghz vs x86 24Ghz. The implications should be very disturbing to those invested in Apple. Don't you find the trend disturbing? I mean Apple chips used to stomp x86 chips.
For IBM and Moto chips are a sideline, and possibly a product that is loosing money to both parties. IBM is increasingly a business consultant company, concentrating on mainframe/server to Intel boxes on the desk. Moto is making it's dough in the cell phone and communications business. For Intel and AMD chips are their core business, they live and die on chips. Again the implications are and should be disturbing to Apple investors.
I guess it all comes down to the hub. If you believe that Apple can compete as a consumer driven company and you believe that chips will become fast enough that speed won't matter, then the present path would suit you.
If you believe that the handwriting on chip speed (bus speed) is on the wall and that content will be created on the fastest platform to the detriment of other platforms then you should be worrying. |
