If Apple no longer needs Imagination's IP why would they be in talks to acquire the company?
If Apple was able to acquire the company they can get the company to design specifically for them, which is clearly what Apple needs moving forward with machine learning and AR.
Apple didn't want the whole company to begin with, they had no need for MIPS, and Apple required exclusivity. Apple would have had to accept any contractual/licensing agreement with existing customers, and that revenue would be of little value in a purchase.
Incorrect. Upon purchase of AuthenTec for the touchID technology, Apple gave AuthenTec the direction to tell all their customers they had one month more of support and sales and then would be cut off. AuthenTec sold their module to Motorola prior to Apple buying them. Motorola had one month's notice.
I did imagine it is whole lot different in MIPS and Ensigma Contract, especially it is within EU and UK where services contract are much better protected.
If Apple no longer needs Imagination's IP why would they be in talks to acquire the company?
If Apple was able to acquire the company they can get the company to design specifically for them, which is clearly what Apple needs moving forward with machine learning and AR.
Based on Apple's public statement that they have no plans to make an offer for Imagination it's clear how they'll approach this. Rather than acquire the company they're taking the cheaper route and acquiring the best of their engineering talent. Apple has very recently opened a new graphics processing unit design office just a couple of blocks from Imaginations offices in St. Alban's, effectively putting up a "Now Hiring" banner in front of their employees.
It’s interesting because they’ve been hiring Imagination’s people for at least two years, putting them in Apple’s research facility in London, and I think, St. Albans. And, for crying out loud, they hired Imagination’s COO! How could that company not wonder what’s going on?
and with Apple not using their newer IP, wouldn’t that have been a hint of something? Mismanagement is obvious over there.
Well Apple will need some sort of IP agreement for their GPU. That is either coming from Nvidia or AMD. You literally cant get a GPU silicon out today unless you have some patent agreement between one of these two. Even Intel needed one from Nvidia, and they are now getting it from AMD. Or alternatively they could get it from IMG, which is why Apple wanted to buy them in the first place, because every player in the GPU industry has some sort of cross licensing agreement. And in some cases some players are still paying ( or paid ) the patent fees for S3TC, which originated from S3 long time ago. ( Patents expiring this year )
It will be interesting how Apple is going about the GPU IP. Up to WWDC I have always thought Apple will someday use Zen CPU on Mac, and get some patent agreement with AMD for their GPU, but with the introduction of iMac Pro being Intel based, this isnt likely going to happen. May be part of the deal will be Apple just continue to use AMD graphics card on the Mac.
Well Apple will need some sort of IP agreement for their GPU. That is either coming from Nvidia or AMD. You literally cant get a GPU silicon out today unless you have some patent agreement between one of these two. Even Intel needed one from Nvidia, and they are now getting it from AMD. Or alternatively they could get it from IMG, which is why Apple wanted to buy them in the first place, because every player in the GPU industry has some sort of cross licensing agreement. And in some cases some players are still paying ( or paid ) the patent fees for S3TC, which originated from S3 long time ago. ( Patents expiring this year )
It will be interesting how Apple is going about the GPU IP. Up to WWDC I have always thought Apple will someday use Zen CPU on Mac, and get some patent agreement with AMD for their GPU, but with the introduction of iMac Pro being Intel based, this isnt likely going to happen. May be part of the deal will be Apple just continue to use AMD graphics card on the Mac.
Well, we’re talking about iOS devices, so I don’t know what Apple is doing about the Mac in the future, though there’s some indication that they’re inking some agreements with Nvidia again.
apple does have GPU IP of their own. Just how much we don’t know. But Apple did buy a lot of patents over the past few years. Some were bought with others, and some by themselves. Whether they need some from somewhere else is something that’s just a guess. But when Apple stated that to Imagination, apparently back in 2015, they must have known what they were getting themselves into. It hardly seems likely that Apple would tell them that they would stop using their IP if they didn’t have substitutes. And yes, some of that could be from AMD, Nvidia, Intel, and others.
Apple had bought two small GPU design companies over the years, and has a number of their own patents they had gotten besides whatever those companies had. If Apple spoke to them in 2015, it means they must have had enough IP to know where they were going with this, and had some inkling of when it might happen. The more specific times they gave them since, is just a refinement of that timeline.
going to the reviews in Anandtech of Apple’s iOS products for the past two years, at least, shows Anandtech being suspicious that there is Apple IP in the GPU, as what they see doesn’t exactly match up with Imagination’s IP. So we’re likely seeing some of Apple’s work in present products. If, as Apple says, they haven’t been taking any new Imagination IP since 2015, that’s really a big deal, because the question becomes - what is in their GPU?
Apple used its own 'Imagination' and miniaturized some Disney technology that was shared.
Oh man, that’s one of my favorite exhibits! I even like the song they use. What was that about again? Oh yeah, imagination.
It is one of my faves too, just waiting for 5 year old granddaughter to be old enough to appreciate EPCOT so I can go again. The song is one of those you just can't get out of your head! Loved the dragon!
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and with Apple not using their newer IP, wouldn’t that have been a hint of something? Mismanagement is obvious over there.
It will be interesting how Apple is going about the GPU IP. Up to WWDC I have always thought Apple will someday use Zen CPU on Mac, and get some patent agreement with AMD for their GPU, but with the introduction of iMac Pro being Intel based, this isnt likely going to happen. May be part of the deal will be Apple just continue to use AMD graphics card on the Mac.
apple does have GPU IP of their own. Just how much we don’t know. But Apple did buy a lot of patents over the past few years. Some were bought with others, and some by themselves. Whether they need some from somewhere else is something that’s just a guess. But when Apple stated that to Imagination, apparently back in 2015, they must have known what they were getting themselves into. It hardly seems likely that Apple would tell them that they would stop using their IP if they didn’t have substitutes. And yes, some of that could be from AMD, Nvidia, Intel, and others.