Apple's Switch to Intel Could Be a Smart Move
Apple and Macintosh | Reads from WWW
Wed 22 Jun 2005
Digitimes -- Apple ComputerÂ’s decision to switch its PC and server product lines from IBMÂ’s PowerPC to IntelÂ’s x86 microprocessor family is a smart decision that will allow the company to improve the competitiveness of its mobile computing products, iSuppli believes.
The company said it will begin introducing Intel x86-based Macintosh PCs and servers in 2006, and will migrate its entire line to Intel microprocessors by 2007. Apple did not divulge whether it will continue to design its own PC core-logic chipsets or if it will employ Intel chipsets along with Intel processors.
On the positive side, using Intel chipsets makes sense, because it would reduce costs. On the negative side – depending on your computer brand persuasion – the use of Intel chipsets could make the Macintosh less of a Mac and more of a PC.
This brings us to one of the most fundamental issues regarding the Apple platform: What is it that makes a Mac a Mac? The opinions we have heard for many years, and continue to hear, are: “it’s the PowerPC”, or “it’s a platform completely designed by, and controlled by Apple”, or “it’s the Mac Operating System (OS)”.
iSuppli believes the last opinion is the correct one. Could a user really tell the difference between two Macintosh OS PCs, one Power PC G5-based, and one Intel x86-based? We very much doubt it.
In the PC market, AppleÂ’s strength, its unique selling proposition, its x-factor, is the Mac OS. Regardless of whether Apple uses Intel chipsets or not, Apple will retain this strength.
So why did Apple go to Intel, or rather, why did it decide to ditch IBMÂ’s PowerPC chips? The answer resides in AppleÂ’s line of mobile products: the mainstream iBook, or the very desirable PowerBook. Neither is available with a PowerPC G5 microprocessor, but instead uses the previous-generation G4.
Industry speculation has it that Apple was unhappy with IBM for not yet delivering a mobile G5 microprocessor. As Intel has pushed its Centrino brand very strongly into the mobile PC market, Apple has been stuck promoting a microprocessor that technically is far behind that of the competition.
iSuppli suspects that Apple had finally lost patience with IBM, and decided a more competitive mobile microprocessor was needed, and needed fast.
Over the past five years, the mobile PC market has undergone tremendous unit growth, and Apple clearly wants a bigger slice of that growth. While more competitive microprocessors will help, Apple’s pricing – which is generally higher than that of its competitors – and its Mac OS effectively will limit its capability to significantly penetrate the Microsoft Windows-based PC market, iSuppli believes.
As Intel x86 microprocessors like the Pentium are manufactured in larger volumes than the PowerPC chips are, Apple almost certainly will be getting a better price per unit from Intel than it now does from IBM. However, those expecting to see sudden price reductions for Apple Macintosh PCs are in for some disappointment, iSuppli believes.
Apple will not slash Mac prices immediately for two reasons. First, the product phasing that Apple must use, i.e. the time-staggered introduction of x86-based PCs replacing PowerPC-based systems, will negate the appearance of a price differential between the x86- and PowerPC-based products. Second, Apple will avoid suddenly offering more powerful computers at a lower cost because it could be seen as an admission that its previous products were overpriced and underpowered.
With an operating system that can run on x86 microprocessors, will Apple be able to mount a more sustained challenge to Microsoft PC OS dominance? In theory, the answer is yes, but driver support will be a key issue.
All PC peripherals will need to have drivers written for Apple Mac OSX OS and must be certified on the platform. Mac OSX is based on the open-source FreeBSD Unix, so again in theory, Apple could release a version of OSX to the open-source community.
The will help Apple build the ecosystem for its OS, something that Intel talked about at length when launching its x86-64 processors. An ecosystem consists of tools, drivers, utilities and just about any piece of software that a user or developer for an operating system may want or need.
iSuppli believes Apple has made the right decision, but one it should have made many years ago. The company now has some very important decisions to consider, regarding how much control it wants to have over the hardware platform.
Matthew Wilkins is a senior analyst with iSuppli and covers the computer systems platforms market for iSuppli Compute Platforms service.