I've found it funny for a while now that it seems that IBM will be powering the Mac in the future. 20 years ago, IBM introduced the PC in an attempt to take over the market and knock Apple out of the lead. They did manage to knock Apple out, but they never managed to dominate the market as they had hoped to do. IBM wanted to originally follow Apple and design the whole system on their own, but they ran out of time and had to get other people to make parts - Intel for chips, teac for floppy drives, MS for an OS. This allowed for clones because of IBM's rush to get the PC to market, concerned that Apple would be too strong and too established if they had waited for a year to put the PC out.
Now, Apple and IBM may be developing plans to work together. IBM is a very innovative company, as is Apple, and is larger than anybody else in the industry. They're not a big player on the consumer side anymore - but their corporate end is huge.
My question is, besides the new 970 and the IBM G3s (one of which is residing in my iBook), is there any possiblity of other chips being manufactured to suit low-end needs once the high-end goes to the 970. Or will everything be moved over by this time next year? I have a feeling that Apple would like to cut-ties with Motorola because of what they've done in the recent past - and Moto just introduced a new G4 for "embedded" apps - meaning they are not designed for a Mac with loadable software.
Another interesting thing is Apple production. Will IBM cease construction of PCs - at least those sold to the public - and start building Macs and putting marketing $$$ behind Apple? Basically, will IBM help manufacture Apple's own computers and help them infiltrate more of the market. I've been suspicious of this for a couple months now as well. Why would this be a benefit? Because Macs would likely work better with the servers IBM is selling to companies. I also have a suspicion that the X-Serve was introduced to work with IBM stock and prepare for this partnership. Some friends I've talked to over at IBM (used to work for them) seem to indicate that they've heard about talks between IBM and Apple - so many something big will happen.
Now, Apple and IBM may be developing plans to work together. IBM is a very innovative company, as is Apple, and is larger than anybody else in the industry. They're not a big player on the consumer side anymore - but their corporate end is huge.
My question is, besides the new 970 and the IBM G3s (one of which is residing in my iBook), is there any possiblity of other chips being manufactured to suit low-end needs once the high-end goes to the 970. Or will everything be moved over by this time next year? I have a feeling that Apple would like to cut-ties with Motorola because of what they've done in the recent past - and Moto just introduced a new G4 for "embedded" apps - meaning they are not designed for a Mac with loadable software.
Another interesting thing is Apple production. Will IBM cease construction of PCs - at least those sold to the public - and start building Macs and putting marketing $$$ behind Apple? Basically, will IBM help manufacture Apple's own computers and help them infiltrate more of the market. I've been suspicious of this for a couple months now as well. Why would this be a benefit? Because Macs would likely work better with the servers IBM is selling to companies. I also have a suspicion that the X-Serve was introduced to work with IBM stock and prepare for this partnership. Some friends I've talked to over at IBM (used to work for them) seem to indicate that they've heard about talks between IBM and Apple - so many something big will happen.
