Newsletter #361 Preview: Does the Intel-Based Mac Eliminate Apple’s Advantage?
October 30th, 2006I suppose that I shouldn’t take all the stuff I read online or in the newspapers seriously, particularly when it comes to technology. While there are lots of dedicated journalists plying their trade, some of those tech pundits seem to write about things not to provide factual information, but to drive an agenda that might be something else again.
Take Apple’s switch to Intel processors. That, and the use of industry-standard components, has surely made a Mac closely resemble a PC inside, so where’s the difference these days? That’s the theory explored in an article on the subject entitled “Apple’s switch to Intel puts it in a tough spot.”
Why should this be? Well, the article posits that Apple is now forced to follow Intel’s product cycles to remain competitive. That means that, when Intel comes out with a new processor, Apple has no choice but to put them inside its computers as soon as sufficient supplies are available. If it fails to do so, it falls behind the curve, and power users who immerse themselves in product specifications may look elsewhere to satisfy their cravings.
Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter.
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Apple’s advantage is Mac OS X, its world-beating design, and its incredible iApps and professional apps. That’s the advantage. This article is complete BS.
I agree with Tommo about Apple’s advantage and with Gene that part standardization is a good thing, in general.
The guy does have a point, though, even if it is not the one he intends to make. It’s not like Apple could have coasted along with keeping the original Macbook Pro chips after the new ones came out.
That sounds like a good thing, too.
I think the new chips are priced right anyway, so Apple had no incentive to give in to inertia anyway.
The linked article is mostly silly. Only the truly uniformed buyer is going to purchase a Dell over a Mac because the former has the latest-and-greatest CPU while ignoring the difference in operating systems.
If Apple has lost anything, it is whatever marketing value the perception of a radically different HW platform gave them, and they had more of this with PPC. I think the Intel switch has been a good thing on this score, as I was never sold on enclosure esthetics or the supremacy of PPC to begin with. Apple marketing needs to focus on their great software, as that’s where the real innovation has always been.
“the article posits that Apple is now forced to follow Intel’s product cycles to remain competitive” Well okay, but in the past wasn’t Apple equally forced to follow the product cycles of Motorola and IBM? I can’t remember a time when either of those manufacturers produced a better chip and Apple did not adopt it soon after its introduction.