Comments on: Atom-powered iPhone, the sequel

By: FabRat Hudson Mass

FabRat Hudson Mass — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:51:32 +0000

We at Intel made the ARM chips for years, we know them inside and out. Now we make the Atom at my Fab and I ask you, would we really go and drop a good product for a bad one? The Atom is a huge step up from Arm.

By: XamaX, Lisboa, Europe

XamaX, Lisboa, Europe — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:03:39 +0000

I meant "But they can always resort to ARM, Infineon, Broadcom or NVIDIA" for the ASICs. I'm not confusing the application processor with the communications processor, some of these companies have both integrated in the same ASIC together with FM + Wi-Fi + Bluetooth + 3.5G radio…

By: XamaX, Lisboa, Europe

XamaX, Lisboa, Europe — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:56:54 +0000

Apple's Steve Jobs could eventually forgo the investment he has made in P.A. Semi for the power hungry and expensive Intel Atom chip if – and only if – Intel would decide to replace their 80.000 XP System with Macs. They have decided not to upgrade to Vista, that has been on the news (see CNBC Jim Goldman's "One Small Step for Intel; Giant Leap for Apple?" article here http://www.cnbc.com/id/25392824 ).

That move would be so significant, IBM would maybe follow through, that there would be the tipping point for the consumers and corporations to rush to buy the Macs in droves.

Otherwise I don't see this article as more than rumor of a speculative rumor with little chance of coming to fruition.

Notwithstanding, I have little doubts that Apple *may* eventually source the Atom for their mini-tablet / Newton, a handheld computer with phone capabilities to fill the gap between the iPhone and the MacBook. But they always resort to ARM, Infineon, Broadcom or NVIDIA. That is, while P.A. Media isn't churning out their own chips/ASICs…

By: dennis, phoenix az

dennis, phoenix az — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:41:23 +0000

friggin conjecture and speculation at best.

gee should I sell some apple stock?

wonder why apple bought a chip manufacturing company?

gee should a sell some apple and sell all my intel?

By: Chuck, Broomfield CO

Chuck, Broomfield CO — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:36:08 +0000

Didn't Jobs state that the recent acquisition will design chips for mobile apple devices?

By: backtomac, London Kentucky

backtomac, London Kentucky — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:34:57 +0000

PED,

Its far from certain which chip, at least for those not in Apple's decision making team, will power iPhones. Steve Jobs himself has said in a New York Times interview that Apple should make the chips that power these and similar devices. The acquisition of PA Semi earlier this year would indicate that they are serious about that.

Most observers feel that ARM chips are much better at power conservation than the current Atom chips so I believe that ARM will continue in the iPhone until Atom is manufactured at the 32 nm process. At that point Apple may look and see how that version of Atom would work in an iPhone. However Atom probably won't be moving to 32 nm until 2010, if I remember correctly.

By: Sacto Joe, Sacramento, CA

Sacto Joe, Sacramento, CA — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:24:31 +0000

It doesn't take a genius to figure out where Apple is heading. A larger "tablet" that's touch-screen, wired, has a sophisticated operating system and a slew of available applications is pretty much a foregone conclusion. It's called "convergence".