Beats

KBuffett said:

I don’t know why Apple consistently buys its way into this culture.

Japhey said:

Beats said:

I know it’s 2022 but I’ve wanted an all screen square Nano for some time. With iOSlite and it’s own App Store, I think it would be a crazy little gaming device and super popular amongst kids as a holiday hit.

Some fun ideas I have written in my notes:

iPod Nano

A14 chip

2.5x2.5 square screen

FaceID in bezel

iPodOS (mini versions of games and apps)

8MP outer camera for ARKit

MagSafe charging, no lightning port

MagSafe accessories

Taptic Engine

64GB $199

128GB $299

Would be a hit for kids at Christmas time and could launch a new era of mobile gaming.

I’d buy that. 

dewme said:

charlesn said:

avon b7 said:

lkrupp said:

avon b7 said:

glnf said:

mattinoz said:

So what's in a modem that is different / hard compared to the M1?

Seems an odd statement to just hang out there.

You are (also) dealing with analogue signal processing at incredibly high frequencies. Designing a microprocessor is stacking up Lego bricks, designing a G5 modem is wizardry and magic with thrown in quantum effects. So to speak.

Not to mention all the standards compliance, testing and certification processes. 

Then the finished product has to actually play well with the deployed carrier infrastructure out there where Qualcomm and Huawei etc will have a major advantage, as both of them are actively involved in making that hardware as well as moving it forward (5.5G, 6G...).

Of course, financially, there is no getting away from paying patent fees to both of them in the process. 

Apple is always a day late and a dollar short for people like you. It’s amazing they are even in business to you, right?

I have no idea what you are talking about. 

The reality is what it is. There is no getting away from that. If you want to live in denial, that is fine. 

Have to agree with Avon B7, who was merely pointing out the hurdles that Apple faces which make developing its own modem a big challenge, bigger even than development of the M1. There's no day late/dollar short criticism of Apple at all. 

I'll pile on to your support of Avon B7. Anything that broadcasts over the air and has to interoperate with existing standards, conform to national and global regulations, and has a massive installed base to support has to confirm exactly to those standards and regulations. With the M1 Apple has a great deal of flexibility about how it implements internal details and private interfaces with its own proprietary system components. We've already seen Apple exercise this freedom with the proprietary memory modules in the Mac Studio.

Apple can do anything it wants within the boundaries of the system that they own. When it comes to telecommunications Apple does not own the system, they are just one player in a much larger system.

I get your point about asserting that Apple undoubtedly has the technical chops and "smarts" to take on very complex technical challenges. But being smart is not enough. They also need problem domain and subject matter expertise, experienced and knowledgable staff ready to go, and design and manufacturing resources available "yesterday" that have been working towards solving the kind of highly specialized problems they are facing to build their own modem.

Apple can certainly grow or buy everything they need to get to where they need to be. However, it takes time and money and lessons learned along the way, exactly what this Apple Insider article is laying out in good detail, to get there. Simply having a bunch of really smart people on staff, all of whom are already heavily engaged in solving other big problems that need solutions, is not enough.

This is a high bar for Apple to get over. Simply being good enough or comparable to what they are getting from Qualcomm isn't going to cut it for Apple. Just like the M1 and Intel, they have to be significantly better to really make it worth the huge time, effort, and money needed to solve this with engineering versus solving this with business negotiation. Apple could negotiate with to Qualcomm cut its prices or give Apple more favorable terms for timing, deliverables, and volumes. Once Apple decides to take on the huge engineering effort on their own this becomes a case in burning their (Qualcomm) boats. It had better be worth it, especially without Intel to fall back on this time around.