Jobs alludes to future discussion on Motorola
Think Secret
Quote:
A concern about hardware speeds was expressed. Jobs first made point that clock speed does not necessarily tell the whole story, and that even Intel is emphasizing diminishing importance of clock speed as it release new portable processors that are faster at slower clock speeds. He then acknowledged that it is a problem, and that Apple is very aware of the issue. He said "there will be a time" when Apple would speak about its relationship with Motorola, and that the particular shareholder who asked the question would be invited, if he desired.
A concern about hardware speeds was expressed. Jobs first made point that clock speed does not necessarily tell the whole story, and that even Intel is emphasizing diminishing importance of clock speed as it release new portable processors that are faster at slower clock speeds. He then acknowledged that it is a problem, and that Apple is very aware of the issue. He said "there will be a time" when Apple would speak about its relationship with Motorola, and that the particular shareholder who asked the question would be invited, if he desired.
Comments
Originally posted by Algol
Yea, whenever steve says something like this it just makes me uneasy. I wish he would just come out and tell us whats going on. You do realize how much it would help Apple stock to know that the 970 is on the way shortly. Apple not saying anything makes me feel like they are trying to cover something up... I WISH THEY WOULD STIOP!
And have sales of the PowerMac grind to a stand still until whatever it is they are working on comes out?
I would rather Apple not say a word and their sales inch up slowly then fall down at light speeds.
Originally posted by Jared
And have sales of the PowerMac grind to a stand still until whatever it is they are working on comes out?
I would rather Apple not say a word and their sales inch up slowly then fall down at light speeds.
I agree.
Originally posted by Algol
If apple ever plans on taking the business market, they are going to have to release a roadmap of some sort. It is very hard on businesses to know when to buy no hardware when there is not time table.
If Apple release a roadmap of any sort it would be suicide.
Apple is not like Intel or AMD where they lisence out their chips to different manufacturers.
Intel can have a public roadmap because these manufacturers do not do business with each other, they compete.
Apple has no competition (in-terms of Macintosh based computers) so they relay on secrecy, otherwise their sales would be dead in the water and people would wait until the latest and greatest came around, or waited until speeds were good enough to themselves.
Get this through your skulls: There are no Power Mac sales expect to pros who can't (for one reason or another) leave the Mac platform but need new computers now.
Mac cultists and pros who can wait ARE waiting for the G5/970
Platform agnostics are buying PCs
There will be no increase or decrease in sales until the PPC970.
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What if the next Power Mac was called the "Power Mac 9700" in honour of the 9600 (and the 9700 6-slot G3 which was cancelled).
Barto
Justin
Originally posted by Barto
WHAT SALES!?
Get this through your skulls: There are no Power Mac sales expect to pros who can't (for one reason or another) leave the Mac platform but need new computers now.
A meaningless anecdotal datum: I was in the Apple Store in Salem, NH last week, taking a look at the 17-in PB again (now that there was one on display that I could get my hands on directly) when I overheard:
Customer: I'll take one.
Sales guy: Which one have you decided on?
Customer: I'd like one of the dual 1.25s.
And then, miracle of miracles, it appears that an actual sale of a current model Power Mac actually took place.
Of course, I'm thinking to myself: Doesn't this guy know the 970s are coming!?
Then again, mere months ago, August to be exact, I bought a dual 1.25 myself. At that time, however, indications of the 970 weren't as strong (IBMs formal announcement was still two months away), plus I figured I'd likely get a good year out of the thing before wanting to upgrade.
Originally posted by Barto
WHAT SALES!?
Get this through your skulls: There are no Power Mac sales expect to pros who can't (for one reason or another) leave the Mac platform but need new computers now.
Mac cultists and pros who can wait ARE waiting for the G5/970
Platform agnostics are buying PCs
There will be no increase or decrease in sales until the PPC970.
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What if the next Power Mac was called the "Power Mac 9700" in honour of the 9600 (and the 9700 6-slot G3 which was cancelled).
Barto
Ok, First off. I love the Name PowerMac 9700. SWEET NAME. I'm impressed. That would be too cool. Second "Mac cultists and pros who can wait ARE waiting for the G5/970" That I am doing, but if PowerMac's are not up to par, I am not exactly a Platform agnostic if I have to switch to dual Xeon Setup for 3D.
I can only hope for some serious Power from Apple because I will have to leave my beloved PowerMac behind as I am forced to move foreward.
To people who just want to buy a Mac (and I mean the people who've already made up their minds and said "Yes, I'm going with Apple"), they really don't care. They just want a Mac that will suit their needs and will address those needs for the foreseeable future. It's not necessarily ALL about getting the Latest and Greatest...it's just getting something that will give them the best bang for their buck. And most of them probably don't waste their time reading rumor sites.
As any computer owner should know, obsolescence is just a part of the game...I think Mac owners do and should know this most of all. Right now, I think the current line of PM's are, well...fairly good...save for the low-end single processor 1 Ghz, which SHOULD be a dual processor machine. When faster, better, cheaper machines come out--be they 970's, or G5's or Hammer/Opteron's--well, they'll come out, and then they'll be replaced, too...
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if yeah, buying a new G4 right now may not be the best of decisions, with the prospect of 970-based Macs a strong possibility. But if you're languishing with an old 604, Beige or B&W G3, or even an old Sawtooth clunker like myself, I think the current crop of G4's aren't so bad a buy after all.
...besides, everyone knows you shouldn't get a Rev. A model of any new product from Apple.
Apple really should say something about the 970 before it is released, maybe they will talk about it at WWDC.
But what does Steve Jobs' statement regarding Motorola mean? Perhaps Apple might be going to an all IBM line up? Could it mean 970 chips across the board? Well, perhaps the iBook might straggle a bit with a G3. Hopefully Apple and IBM will be able to keep the G3 competitive somehow.
Hopefully, using IBM as a single supplier of chips won't cause similar problems to what Apple faced with Motorola.
Well, here's hoping for a 970 based PowerBook. Even more than the PowerMac, a PowerBook based on the 970 will storm the market. Apple must know this. Perhaps there was more meaning in the "year of the laptop" than we were lead to believe.
If the Intel/AMD are having a hard time matching the PowerPC in portable performance now, they will be sunk when Apple brings out a 970 based PowerBook.
Originally posted by Rhumgod
Roadmap? I honestly don't remember too many PC companies realeasing a roadmap.
It seems that plenty of you have very short memories. Hasn't Apple had a pretty extensive roadmap leading up to an beyond the release of MacOS X?
Didn't Apple have a roadmap leading up to the introduction of PPC?
It's really short sighted to say things like "yeah, but it'll kill PowerMac sales leading up to the date...". It'll only kill PowerMac sales in a fairly small window, if the date was exactly known then it might have an effect for around a month, at the most. And that slack would be taken up immediately upon the release of new kit.
People buy machines because they *need them now*, not in a month or three months time.
The worst scenario here is that Apple has poor cashflow for a month - with $4Bn in the bank this doesn't seem like a big deal.
On the plus side announcing a roadmap would give people more confidence in the platform and the immediate future... maybe that's why they made such a big deal about a roadmap for MacOS X?
Originally posted by DHagan4755
He said "there will be a time" when Apple would speak about its relationship with Motorola, and that the particular shareholder who asked the question would be invited, if he desired.
On subject now, what, you think, Apple would say about its relationship with Motorola?
Apple competes on the strength of it's operating system, hardly ever on chipspeed. Releasing a roadmap would esentially create competition between people who have already decided to buy a powermac. Buy a mac now or buy a mac later. Apple would probably prefer that you buy now and buy later again.
Can you imagine a regular Joe about to buy the fastest Wintel box (which he probably does not really need) stopping to wait for a powermac available in 4 months?
Besides what if there is a problem? What if Apple had a roadmap that had a G5 available in late 2002? That was the plan, right? Then motorola messed it up. You can't have a chipset roadmap if you are not making the chips.