Apple Migrates to Intel
Interesting news of the day:
Economist.com: On Monday June 6th, Mr Jobs was set to use the platform of Apple%u2019s annual developers conference to announce that the firm will switch from the chips supplied by IBM and Motorola for over a decade to products from Intel, the world%u2019s biggest chipmaker.... Apple blamed it's current chip suppliers for slow delivery last year, which held up production of some lines. And chip development has not lived up to promises Apple made for improvements in processing speed. Intel%u2019s chips are faster and run cooler than Apple%u2019s current chips. And cooler chips are important for the production of better laptops, a market growing considerably faster than that for desktop PCs. But there is much speculation that Intel can simply supply chips more cheaply than IBM and Motorola, and that Apple can use the saving to cut the retail price of its computers....
[I]n mid-April the firm announced another blistering set of quarterly results: revenues up by 70% compared with the same period the year before, and net profits 530% higher, at $290m; Apple shipped over 1m computers (a 43% rise) and a staggering 5.3m iPods (over six times more than the year before). The iPod has done wonders for Apple, providing not only profits but a positive brand image to a swathe of new young consumers... it has amassed some two-thirds of the world market for hand-held music devices.... iTunes, Apple%u2019s online music store, leads the field....
