Apple Computer
Inc. said yesterday that it will stop using processors built by IBM in favor of
Intel chips, which could help the company cut prices and offer more products
but undercut Apple's reputation for going against the grain of the rest of the
computer industry.
The chip switch
for Apple's Mac computers "probably looks scary to most traditional Mac
enthusiasts who have always shown disdain for the 'Intel Inside' logo,"
said Lou Dunham, a co-owner of the Bethesda shop MacUpgrades.
But Apple chief
executive Steve Jobs said at a San Francisco software conference yesterday that
his company is dropping IBM's PowerPC products because Intel's lineup of
forthcoming chips holds more promise. He said Apple did not know how to build
the products it plans with chips planned by IBM.
Since Apple's Macs
and Windows PCs have always used different types of processors, it has
sometimes been tricky to compare their performance. Some Mac users said the
move may broaden the appeal of Apple products by making it easier for shoppers
to compare performance with PCs.
Jobs said the
transition to Intel-built chips will begin next year and be complete by 2007.
Apple has been developing a version of its operating system that will work on
Intel processors ever since the company was fine-tuning the first version of
Mac OS X, its current operating system, five years ago, he said.
In a written
statement, Paul S. Otellini, president and chief executive of Intel, lauded
Apple as "the world's most innovative personal computer company." IBM
did not respond to calls for comment.
The Apple switch
tightens Intel's dominance of the computer processor business; it already has
more than 80 percent of the market. Apple's share of the personal computer
market is in the single digits, so small that some analysts and industry
watchers think the effect of the switch will be negligible to the bottom lines
of IBM and Intel.
Even so, Paul
Saffo, director of the Silicon Valley think-tank Institute for the Future, said
that Apple's products hold such cachet that the switch could be a boon to
Intel.
"It is
enormous prestige to say your chips go into an Apple, even though the numbers
are small," he said.
William Gorman,
technology analyst for PNC Advisors, said the switch is potentially positive
for Apple because Intel's size may allow it to offer lower prices and quicker
product availability. "Intel has a record of more consistent reliability
and availability than IBM," he said.
In establishing a
relationship with Intel, Apple will have access to a wider range of products,
Gorman said. Many have speculated that the Cupertino, Calif.- based computer
maker has a video version of its popular iPod digital music player in the
works, for example. Intel makes chips designed for that type of gadget.
Rumors that Apple
would switch to Intel have been around for years, but some Mac users wondered
yesterday if Apple is running the risk of alienating its core fans, the Mac
users who obsessively pore over every move the company makes.
Mount Pleasant Mac
enthusiast Bill Morocco said he initially found the news "kind of
creepy" because he likes the fact that his Mac PowerBook is different from
other systems. But he also admitted that he doesn't spend much time thinking
about what kind of chip Apple puts in its computers.
"I do video
editing and the best way to do that is with a Mac," he said. "I never
think about the chip being built differently."
With recent hits
like iPod on his hands, Jobs has inspired great credit with Wall Street
analysts and Mac fans. Even if the move appears to move the company a step
closer to the Wintel platform, some Apple aficionados figure by now that
whatever Jobs does with the company must be right.
"If Apple
deems it a smart move to make this transition, I'm all in favor of it,"
Phil Shapiro, a Mac enthusiast in Arlington, wrote in an e-mail yesterday.
"Steve Jobs -- and his board of directors - - are very smart. Their wisdom
becomes revealed to us over time."
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