Will Apple use another Power PC processor? - Page 4

I'm not buying into the secret phone processor deal one bit. IBM has never had any secrets. We knew about the G5 prior to two weeks before WWDC; that's just not true. I Think you were just un informed at the time, and had no clue IBM was working on the G5.

This is the only thing I disagree with. I think it's only a matter of time before Apple offer AMD chips in Macs. Why bet the farm on only one supplier? It's killed them before. Why make that mistake again?

I finally had time to look into the history of the IBM G5, and it seems we knew about it in October of 2002, and the G5 Power Mac was announced in June of 2003 it seems. I finally had time to do a little searching this morning. So, it's my error. You and Mel are correct about the timing. My memory doesn't let me down often, so I tend to trust it.

The "secret phone processor" is nothing I believe either. However, I said it would not surprise me if it happened. I don't think IBM is satisfied producing the Power and PPC chips just for the server and imbedded markets. But I repeat, this is simply my opinion, nothing else.

Regarding being informed at the time the G5 was being developed, this is not so. I was following events closely on AppleInsider, so I should have remembered accurately. Sigh. I broke the news about IBM's chip on AppleInsider when by chance I found a reference to the Microprocessor Forum paper. The first reply to my post was, "That's It." (I couldn't find that post when I was searching this morning. It seems my post history only goes back to 10-14-06.)

The problem I have with IBM 'breaking into' a new market is their desire to be profitable from the outset. From a shareholders perspective that may be a bad thing, who knows how the Xbox franchise will turn out. However, can you see them sustaining the losses that MS is in the Xbox, to get into a mature market like mobile chips? They already have a lot of the pieces in place and may not loose as much as MS in gaming but still seem adverse to taking a loss in the short term for a potential long term gain.

It's a bit different this time, but I suppose that at some point, using an AMD chip here and there isn't impossible, if the product is good enough.

It does look as though the PPC, as a desktop/server chip is about to go out the window, to be replaced with POWER. The embedded PPC's will remain, as they are very popular in their areas.

That's a tough one.

The only competition IBM had for the game market was Intel. They won that fight.

But it was only three companies in the business, two of which were with them from several years before. They only had to pull MS into the fold. They did have a history in the gaming chip business.

Whatever losses MS, and Sony as well, are having, don't affect IBM. They get paid for their chips. As game chips aren't R&D'd much after they are released, it's much easier to profit from them. They are doing a die shrink, but the cost for that isn't much in the overall cost structure. After the shrink, the chips will cost less to produce, so IBM gains there as well. These chips will be around for four, or so, years without major changes. Oo la la! Profits!!!

But in the mobile area, particularly the phone market, the situation is entirely different.

They have no history there. They therefor have no current customers that could influence others to, by example, give them a shot.

There are a number of companies up and down the alphabet who have been producing chips and chipsets for that market, and who do have a customer base. They also have many patents.

This market moves quickly. New parts are being produced all the time. The likelihood that IBM could produce, from nothing, a clearly superior chip with supporting chips, API's, and corresponding, compilers, and libraries, all at once, is almost impossible to envision.

I think that IBM has enough on its foundry plate now, so that it isn't something they would want to tackle.