[X4U] Apple's move to Intel chips

[Mark Phillips]

On Jun 7, 2005, at 4:42 PM, Bill Northcott wrote:

> [Apple] can negotiate with both major CPU suppliers, and take whatever 
> product best suits a particular design.  That might be Power5 or it 
> might be Pentium M.  No other computer company can do that.

That is a key point behind all of this chatter. For years, Apple has 
defended its use of the PPC while being hammered for not supporting 
Intel. Pro's and con's of the hardware aside for the moment, this move 
clearly improves Apple's position in leveraging its supply chain. Also, 
given the dramatic loss of profit margin in hardware manufacture across 
the industry, more flexibility in the choice of cpu architecture and 
subsequently the manufacture of product is a highly desirable 
competitive advantage. In my mind, it is no accident that Dell has 
announced its version of the Lexus of computers. As an aside, my wife 
owned a Lexus; we will never buy one again.

What I prefer in MacOS X are the very qualities that make Linux 
attractive: lots of open source, open standard support. Add to this the 
clean, well thought out user experience and the MacOS is attractive on 
any hardware platform. Further, if Apple continues to pursue exemplary 
engineering synergy between OS and hardware, their machines will be the 
only choice for discriminating buyers.

Just my unsolicited two cents.

Mark Phillips
Mophilly & Associates
On the web at http://www.mophilly.com
On the phone at 619 444-9210