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Apple to Make an Offer to Acquire ARM?
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if there is any sort of government agency/anti-trust talk, apple has the power to say that they wont stop shipments to other platforms. theres alot that apple can do to allow the deal to pass. although I would still say apple holds a lot of power in the relationship.
bigger question is a $8 billion acquisition is pretty large for apple and 20% of their cash reserves is significant..enough so that the stock could get a hit from it...i would be surprised that steve would do such a large acquisition.
Apple survived the mid-90's by selling off ARM shares. It would be a full circle kind of purchase. I like it!
There's a difference between "competition" and "being dicks." This won't happen. It can't.
(For those that don't know, ARM is what 95% of your mobile devices run, barring Atom and MIPS (PSP)).
(For those that don't know, ARM is what 95% of your mobile devices run, barring Atom and MIPS (PSP)).
Exactly. It's naive to think that a new chip manufacturer wouldn't step in to fill the gap if Apple withheld ARM from everyone. Apple would gain nothing in the long term from this move other than maybe cheaper chips.
I think we could see Apple make a substantial stock purchase in ARM to lock Google et.al. out. Particularly since Google just snapped up an ARM chip company stocked with former Apple employees. It would ensure they would always have some sort of licensing/access to ARM processors, be able to prevent a takeover, and strongly suggest new R&D directions. At the same time, they would also avoid the hassles of running a chip manufacturing business.
I'd guess that licensees typically have fairly long-term, iron-clad contracts -- at least for released and soon-to-be-released devices. A buyer of ARM shouldn't have the power to cancel they contracts.
So I'd guess the rest of the mobile market wouldn't be killed. More like a mild stroke leading to temporary paralysis while they moved in another direction.
Cliff
I believe this one. ARM is where Apple's putting their investments in with regard to mobile computing processing.
I don't buy that FUD about locking people out. Nothing prevents Apple from monetizing ARM designs for 3rd parties while keeping the best stuff for themselves.
What do you think this means for Imagination? Does Apple buy ARM and continue to license PowerVR or does Apple start leveraging Mali?
I think they continue to license PowerVR. They seem to love it. I'm not sure they've thought it through yet, though.
Yeah, and it would take a long time before the chips would be cheaper when you consider the price to purchase ARM. It's like they paid $8 billion for an unlimited ARM license.
Apple won't spend that huge amount of money for a company and then just DUMP 100% of that company's revenue stream.
Okay, not 100%, but whatever the mobile processor segment is responsible for, which is a significant share.
Okay, not 100%, but whatever the mobile processor segment is responsible for, which is a significant share.
I don't think this would have a whole lot to do with clamping down on supplies to competitors. ARM licenses its architecture to lots of manufacturers; Apple buys its CPUs (including the A4) from Samsung, for example. What an Apple acquisition might cause is reluctance among competitors to customize. Again for example, Apple itself specified some sort of customizations to the processor in the iPhone 3GS and possibly other models. Competitors might not want to open the kimono to the degree necessary to specify customizations if Apple owned the joint. But it's possible that licensees like Samsung might be able to perform the customizations without involving ARM... or Apple, if that's what it comes to.
IMHO Apple would best be served by purchasing GPU capabilities. Is nVidia available?
IMHO Apple would best be served by purchasing GPU capabilities. Is nVidia available?
Oh my god! This would seriously be a game over for other companies, or not?This might increase the competition even more. Imagine Google building its own company as a replacement to ARM.
I'd be pretty happy for Apple. Some say that it might kill the innovation but just think like this, rather than some so-called, buggy, or resource hog innovations like Windows Mobile, Flash, Tablet PC's, netbooks or others, I can just prefer real but closed and conservative although beneficial innovations like iPad, iPhone OS etc. This is not thinking as a fanboy, but thinking like a consumer who suffered a lot from these so-called innovations...
I'd be pretty happy for Apple. Some say that it might kill the innovation but just think like this, rather than some so-called, buggy, or resource hog innovations like Windows Mobile, Flash, Tablet PC's, netbooks or others, I can just prefer real but closed and conservative although beneficial innovations like iPad, iPhone OS etc. This is not thinking as a fanboy, but thinking like a consumer who suffered a lot from these so-called innovations...
It's an Apple fanboy's wet dream, to be sure.
If you think Apple's mobiles are great now, just imagine what Apple can do with ARM.
ARM tech + Apple design.
But how does PA Semi and the A4 fit into all this. And Imagination and PowerVR? Or is it all going to be based on Apple's A4 tech (which I assume)?
If you think Apple's mobiles are great now, just imagine what Apple can do with ARM.
ARM tech + Apple design.
But how does PA Semi and the A4 fit into all this. And Imagination and PowerVR? Or is it all going to be based on Apple's A4 tech (which I assume)?
Maybe the article is wrong in that Apple will buy stocks in ARM instead of buying it completely, like they did with Imagination Technologies. This ensures that no other company can buy out the entire company as long as Apple holds a large share of it.
well...
Apple could still sell chips to other companies and keep some for themselves. The best stuff. Other companies would finally be free to develop their own chips! (wink, wink) Just saying that there are many places and directions for chip development.
Not sure how this is different from any NUMBER of OEM siuations.
Apple could still sell chips to other companies and keep some for themselves. The best stuff. Other companies would finally be free to develop their own chips! (wink, wink) Just saying that there are many places and directions for chip development.
Not sure how this is different from any NUMBER of OEM siuations.
Even if Apple does purchase ARM, it doesn't invalidate their current licensing contracts with their partners.
Apple wouldn't suddenly just stop the competition in their tracks by purchasing ARM. They could, however, neglect to license the next processor architecture to other partners and simply build A4-esque chips themselves.
I'm not really sure how far off their next architecture will be. The Cortex A9 is still fairly new (i.e. Tegra 2 chips) and the licensing deals are (I'm sure) complete already, so the next generation chips would still be out.
Still, it would be tough for current mobile OS's to be ported to a different architecture. I'm not really familiar with the patents surrounding ARM architecture, but it may be possible for a "clone" chipset to come out that runs the same instruction sets and prevents the need to reprogram the software for a new architecture (i.e. AMD/Intel on X86/X64).
Apple wouldn't suddenly just stop the competition in their tracks by purchasing ARM. They could, however, neglect to license the next processor architecture to other partners and simply build A4-esque chips themselves.
I'm not really sure how far off their next architecture will be. The Cortex A9 is still fairly new (i.e. Tegra 2 chips) and the licensing deals are (I'm sure) complete already, so the next generation chips would still be out.
Still, it would be tough for current mobile OS's to be ported to a different architecture. I'm not really familiar with the patents surrounding ARM architecture, but it may be possible for a "clone" chipset to come out that runs the same instruction sets and prevents the need to reprogram the software for a new architecture (i.e. AMD/Intel on X86/X64).
Indeed this would make more sense.
Google is acting so power hungry these days, maybe things like this are unavoidable for Apple.
