I think that Steve spelled out Apple's strategy in his MWNY keynote.
I may be misquoting, but I recall him commenting that Apple was going to innovate its way out of the industry slump. When the PC market turned around, Apple would be ready with a wealth of products that consumers would be excited about.
Apple has to have compelling, inovative products BEFORE the economy (or should I be more specific and say, Computer Economy) begins it's upturn. Those Apple products will provide consumers with something they "want" to save up for (and the few who can buy, will buy). Otherwise, the competition will have a "fighting chance". It's kinda like the "Arms Race", you have to make the other side spend more to upgrade or protect against what you came up with. To require them to do so in a slooow market (especially when they're harder hit than you are, could cripple them (in the best of cases). SJ had it right, Apple WILL Inovate their way out of these times. I just wish they'd hurry up and show some more action on those words.
"Big Mac" is absolutely correct about the state of the economy. However, there may be a significant drop in consumer spending. I don't know. It makes for an interesting query for those who know where to find such stats.
Frankly, I don't think the PC industry slump is due to the state of the economy nearly so much as I think it is the product of a stalled techno-eco system. By that I mean, if you have a 500 MHz machine from three years or whatever ago, that satisfies the needs of most computer users. PC gamers are still plugging away at faster PC's but they are merely a portion of the PC market (I have no idea about the percentage of the total that gamers make up. And, gamers can upgrade their PC with a faster video card.).
The industry lacks a compelling motivator for ordinary users to employ faster machines. Hence, replace their old ones. In lieu of the broadband paradise I think we all craved, I believe Apple is far in the way the leader in creating a motivation for the ordinary consumer with Apple's iApps. Making your own DVD's; editing home movies; a handful of other creative and entertainment applications cry for more processing power.
Unfortunately, it SEEMS (I'm not looking for a discussion about how easy the iApps are to employ. I'm talking about perception. Or, at least my perception of perception!) that these creative endeavors are still perceived beyond reach to the ordinary consumer as far as ease of use.
Our favorite Caesar, uncle Bill, is contributing to creating new motivation. He's trying to prop up the broadband industry a bit. And, he is investing boatloads of cash into his entertainment stuff. This will benefit Apple because uncle Bill will spends big bucks on promoting home entertainment on your home PC. That will the sell the concept. And, unfortunately, it will sell Windows PC's as well. However, Apple can ride some of uncle Bill's wave from this promotion by offering a better solution to the concept that he is promoting.
You see this is why I'm so interested in a MacTivo type effort by Apple combined with many other enhancements such as wireless or firewire connectivity to speakers, monitors, telephones, and perhaps some appliances as well. Unlike M$, Apple has complete control over both hardware and software!
So, with older computers satisfying the current needs of ordinary users, the PC market as a whole is in a relative slump. And further, as unpleasant as this is to admit, Apple has not shown dramatically improved market share results to motivate Motorola, and others, to pour in more R&D. Plus, Motorola is highly dependent upon telecom; more so than IBM, AMD, or Intel. Despite many good business schools, corporate leaders tend to cut across the board irrespective of the performance of individual business units. So, even if Motorola were making some good bank on sales to Apple (?), corporate management is still likely to insist on cuts on R&D and stuff w.r.t. Apple stuff because of the telecom slump.
So, on the future, I believe Motorola will most likely pursue one of two paths: sell off intellectual or status quo.
There's a third option but I would only characterize it as a POSSIBILITY, as opposed to a probabilty. That would be Motorola making a strategic change in direction, moving slightly away from telecom and more towards Apple's. This would be so if Motorola's finances indicate that the telecom margins are increasingly smaller compared to those from Apple sales. I'm not declaring this to be just throwing it out there as a consideration that could influence their position in favor of Apple.
I think August will give us a good indication as to Motorola's future with Apple. If it produces something more than incremental, Motorola will stay. If not, then Motorola will go or be less what it is today. That is, being less than it is today could mean that Motorola might dump the fab business entirely and stick to just designs, outsourcing fabrication to others. And obviously "go" means AltiVec, G4, and how knows what will be sold to someone else such as Apple, IBM, or whoever.
Blah, blah, blah. Sorry for the length.
BTW, have you read the paraphrase from Motorola Canada's President that Motorola has already gutted R&D spending w.r.t. desktop computing; this was in "iRumors"?
without getting into a discussion of architectural purity - i can say this: intel has legions of extreamly bright, well funded, and hard working design teams with decades of expierience. The design of their products takes into consideration performance, marketability, and time to market - their "crap" sells because people want it - as a microprocessor manufacturer, intel has succeeded because it has provided microprocessors that people want more than the competition. That is why their products are not "crap"
The more I read about the oil indususrty the more I don't trust them. Truth is there has been no significant discoveries of oil since the 70's, and no new discoveries seem likely.
Iceland is currently switching from oil to H2. This is happening now. By 2020 they hope to be completly off oil in all areas except air travel.
H2 is not a power source as much as it's a storage medium. Solar/Wind/Hydro/Geothermal can be used to extract H2 from seawater, storing energy for clean release later. Remmember the Sun beats down on us with enough energy EVERY SECOND to power the US for a year. Converting even 10% to usable energy looks like a good idea.
Ecocapatalism is possible, and we can all make a lot more money from it. What would happen if the $$$ going to the middle east for oil was spread out accross the whole world?
Sorry, this IS for another time and place.. but I just wanted to clarify..
<strong>I think that Steve spelled out Apple's strategy in his MWNY keynote.
I may be misquoting, but I recall him commenting that Apple was going to innovate its way out of the industry slump. When the PC market turned around, Apple would be ready with a wealth of products that consumers would be excited about.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes, I think he did . But he said they will invest their way through this . (just saw the tape again)
Motorola's PowerPC G5 / 8500 processor may never arrive. A source who wishes not to be identified indicated to us that Motorola cancelled further development of the G5 chip over a year ago, and will concentrate on speeding up the G4 processor. By 2003, Apple may use an IBM PowerPC chip for their fastest machines, while Motorola keeps selling them improved G4 chips for their iMacs and
low-end. It's not clear yet what will happen to the AltiVec instruction set, or how that will be dealt with between Motorola and IBM.
For now, this is still all unconfirmed and should be treated as a rumor, but one that seems to make sense if you look at Motorola's tough financial situation, their focus on more profitable divisions, and the lack of further G5 details forthcoming from Motorola.
- There will be single and dual processor CPU options, most likely based on the 7470 Power PC chip, as opposed to the legendary G5, which some sources suggest may never be released. Indeed, in an attempt to get to the bottom of the story behind these persistent rumors, Mac Buyer's Guide spoke to Motorola Canada president Frank Maw in on July 25, 2002. The way he explained things, G5
processors aren't even on the company's radar screen any more. In fact, he doesn't even mention the company's desktop processor business in his corporate presentations and told us there is "no
timeline" for future non-embedded PowerPC family processor releases. He maintains that he's not aware of any timeline and says it's "not a big focus" for the company at this point.
Alot of similar stories are popping up but they are rumors and all have a differnt variation of what IBMs role will be and what motorola is and isn't doing now or for the future.
Comments
I may be misquoting, but I recall him commenting that Apple was going to innovate its way out of the industry slump. When the PC market turned around, Apple would be ready with a wealth of products that consumers would be excited about.
Big Mac & JasonPP, I'm with you.
Apple has to have compelling, inovative products BEFORE the economy (or should I be more specific and say, Computer Economy) begins it's upturn. Those Apple products will provide consumers with something they "want" to save up for (and the few who can buy, will buy). Otherwise, the competition will have a "fighting chance". It's kinda like the "Arms Race", you have to make the other side spend more to upgrade or protect against what you came up with. To require them to do so in a slooow market (especially when they're harder hit than you are, could cripple them (in the best of cases). SJ had it right, Apple WILL Inovate their way out of these times. I just wish they'd hurry up and show some more action on those words.
Frankly, I don't think the PC industry slump is due to the state of the economy nearly so much as I think it is the product of a stalled techno-eco system. By that I mean, if you have a 500 MHz machine from three years or whatever ago, that satisfies the needs of most computer users. PC gamers are still plugging away at faster PC's but they are merely a portion of the PC market (I have no idea about the percentage of the total that gamers make up. And, gamers can upgrade their PC with a faster video card.).
The industry lacks a compelling motivator for ordinary users to employ faster machines. Hence, replace their old ones. In lieu of the broadband paradise I think we all craved, I believe Apple is far in the way the leader in creating a motivation for the ordinary consumer with Apple's iApps. Making your own DVD's; editing home movies; a handful of other creative and entertainment applications cry for more processing power.
Unfortunately, it SEEMS (I'm not looking for a discussion about how easy the iApps are to employ. I'm talking about perception. Or, at least my perception of perception!) that these creative endeavors are still perceived beyond reach to the ordinary consumer as far as ease of use.
Our favorite Caesar, uncle Bill, is contributing to creating new motivation. He's trying to prop up the broadband industry a bit. And, he is investing boatloads of cash into his entertainment stuff. This will benefit Apple because uncle Bill will spends big bucks on promoting home entertainment on your home PC. That will the sell the concept. And, unfortunately, it will sell Windows PC's as well. However, Apple can ride some of uncle Bill's wave from this promotion by offering a better solution to the concept that he is promoting.
You see this is why I'm so interested in a MacTivo type effort by Apple combined with many other enhancements such as wireless or firewire connectivity to speakers, monitors, telephones, and perhaps some appliances as well. Unlike M$, Apple has complete control over both hardware and software!
So, with older computers satisfying the current needs of ordinary users, the PC market as a whole is in a relative slump. And further, as unpleasant as this is to admit, Apple has not shown dramatically improved market share results to motivate Motorola, and others, to pour in more R&D. Plus, Motorola is highly dependent upon telecom; more so than IBM, AMD, or Intel. Despite many good business schools, corporate leaders tend to cut across the board irrespective of the performance of individual business units. So, even if Motorola were making some good bank on sales to Apple (?), corporate management is still likely to insist on cuts on R&D and stuff w.r.t. Apple stuff because of the telecom slump.
So, on the future, I believe Motorola will most likely pursue one of two paths: sell off intellectual or status quo.
There's a third option but I would only characterize it as a POSSIBILITY, as opposed to a probabilty. That would be Motorola making a strategic change in direction, moving slightly away from telecom and more towards Apple's. This would be so if Motorola's finances indicate that the telecom margins are increasingly smaller compared to those from Apple sales. I'm not declaring this to be just throwing it out there as a consideration that could influence their position in favor of Apple.
I think August will give us a good indication as to Motorola's future with Apple. If it produces something more than incremental, Motorola will stay. If not, then Motorola will go or be less what it is today. That is, being less than it is today could mean that Motorola might dump the fab business entirely and stick to just designs, outsourcing fabrication to others. And obviously "go" means AltiVec, G4, and how knows what will be sold to someone else such as Apple, IBM, or whoever.
Blah, blah, blah. Sorry for the length.
BTW, have you read the paraphrase from Motorola Canada's President that Motorola has already gutted R&D spending w.r.t. desktop computing; this was in "iRumors"?
[ 07-31-2002: Message edited by: Eirik Iverson ]
[ 07-31-2002: Message edited by: Eirik Iverson ]</p>
without getting into a discussion of architectural purity - i can say this: intel has legions of extreamly bright, well funded, and hard working design teams with decades of expierience. The design of their products takes into consideration performance, marketability, and time to market - their "crap" sells because people want it - as a microprocessor manufacturer, intel has succeeded because it has provided microprocessors that people want more than the competition. That is why their products are not "crap"
The more I read about the oil indususrty the more I don't trust them. Truth is there has been no significant discoveries of oil since the 70's, and no new discoveries seem likely.
Iceland is currently switching from oil to H2. This is happening now. By 2020 they hope to be completly off oil in all areas except air travel.
H2 is not a power source as much as it's a storage medium. Solar/Wind/Hydro/Geothermal can be used to extract H2 from seawater, storing energy for clean release later. Remmember the Sun beats down on us with enough energy EVERY SECOND to power the US for a year. Converting even 10% to usable energy looks like a good idea.
Ecocapatalism is possible, and we can all make a lot more money from it. What would happen if the $$$ going to the middle east for oil was spread out accross the whole world?
Sorry, this IS for another time and place.. but I just wanted to clarify..
<strong>I think that Steve spelled out Apple's strategy in his MWNY keynote.
I may be misquoting, but I recall him commenting that Apple was going to innovate its way out of the industry slump. When the PC market turned around, Apple would be ready with a wealth of products that consumers would be excited about.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes, I think he did . But he said they will invest their way through this . (just saw the tape again)
[ 07-31-2002: Message edited by: salty chips ]</p>
Motorola / Apple - PowerPC G5 (8500 / 8540 / 7500?)
Motorola's PowerPC G5 / 8500 processor may never arrive. A source who wishes not to be identified indicated to us that Motorola cancelled further development of the G5 chip over a year ago, and will concentrate on speeding up the G4 processor. By 2003, Apple may use an IBM PowerPC chip for their fastest machines, while Motorola keeps selling them improved G4 chips for their iMacs and
low-end. It's not clear yet what will happen to the AltiVec instruction set, or how that will be dealt with between Motorola and IBM.
For now, this is still all unconfirmed and should be treated as a rumor, but one that seems to make sense if you look at Motorola's tough financial situation, their focus on more profitable divisions, and the lack of further G5 details forthcoming from Motorola.
<a href="http://www.geek.com/procspec/apple/g5.htm"; target="_blank">http://www.geek.com/procspec/apple/g5.htm</a>;
- There will be single and dual processor CPU options, most likely based on the 7470 Power PC chip, as opposed to the legendary G5, which some sources suggest may never be released. Indeed, in an attempt to get to the bottom of the story behind these persistent rumors, Mac Buyer's Guide spoke to Motorola Canada president Frank Maw in on July 25, 2002. The way he explained things, G5
processors aren't even on the company's radar screen any more. In fact, he doesn't even mention the company's desktop processor business in his corporate presentations and told us there is "no
timeline" for future non-embedded PowerPC family processor releases. He maintains that he's not aware of any timeline and says it's "not a big focus" for the company at this point.
<a href="http://macbuyersguide.com/hardware/system/2002_pro_g4.html"; target="_blank">http://macbuyersguide.com/hardware/system/2002_pro_g4.html</a>;
Alot of similar stories are popping up but they are rumors and all have a differnt variation of what IBMs role will be and what motorola is and isn't doing now or for the future.
there could be truth to this