Apple Tablet Has No Intel Inside

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10656904/1/exclusive-apples-tablet-has-no-intel-inside.html

by pierrefar • 17 years ago

21 18 17 years ago

This is significant - odds are PA Semi's chip is going to be ARM, not x86... we've suspected the ARM will make in-roads into "desktop" style computing (i.e., not just phones and PDAs), but this is much sooner than I honestly expected.

This may be only the first step in the demise of the Atom - ARM chips are getting more and more competitive for "real" computing every single day.

nopassrecover• 17 years ago

Is it really that significant? Designs haven't been released for the tablet yet but it sounds more like a mobile device than a "desktop" style device.

Most similar devices use ARM chips right?

"As of 2007, about 98 percent of the more than a billion mobile phones sold each year use at least one ARM processor.[3] As of 2009, ARM processors account for approximately 90% of all embedded 32-bit RISC processors. ARM processors are used extensively in consumer electronics, including PDAs, mobile phones, digital media and music players, hand-held game consoles, calculators and computer peripherals such as hard drives and routers."

zandorg2• 17 years ago

The wierd thing about Acorn Risc Machines is that IBM invented the RISC architecture, and some Brits made it a product (200MHZ StrongARM). So the PowerPC is competing with the ARM, when the ARM came later! Pretty amazing story behind that chip.

notauser• 17 years ago

For the general market I don't believe ARM will get far until there's a Windows ARM port available.

I'm a 100% Linux user and my Atom netbook is a pain-free experience. All software (including Flash and Skype) works out of the box as intended. Compared that to my experience of running Linux on PPC where even open source software didn't always work perfectly.

The experience for a Windows user is even more extreme; they are comparing a Windows machine which is the target/test platform for every vendor, to a Linux ARM machine where most software can be kind of sort of made to work, if you try hard enough. Atom's x86 ISA makes all that pain go away.

With battery life in atom systems beating 8 hours (i.e. a full days work and charge over night) there pain reduction of moving to ARM isn't as big as gaining binary compatibility.

The only people to whom this doesn't apply are Apple, who have two key things:

- A much stronger control over their platform and developers.

- Developers who are already used to multi-platform development thanks to PPC fat binaries and shared libraries between the iPhone and OS X.

Therefore I believe it will be necessary for Microsoft to _really_ support an ARM port before Atom is in any danger at all. And right now their chips are frankly good enough that I can't see Microsoft really being that motivated.

ssp• 17 years ago

One thing worth considering is that parts of Intel may not so thrilled about the Atom. It's a really low-margin chip and it's being manufactured at TSMC, both of which are somewhat out-of-character for Intel.

When Craig Barrett left as chairman of Intel's board last year, they didn't follow the usual plan of having the CEO take over as chairman and a new guy taking over as CEO. Instead, Barrett just left with Otellini staying as CEO. It's tempting to speculate that Barrett, who rose up through the manufacturing arm of Intel, was unhappy about the commoditizing and outsourcing going on. Maybe other parts of Intel are unhappy too. See this: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2009/01/27/45340/c... .

It's difficult to see what alternative Intel has though. For consumers Windows is dying and the x86 lock-in is dying with it, so if they don't compete on price, ARM will eat their business from below. But a market-leading company like Intel really hates it when their main product gets commoditized.

frisco• 17 years ago

This article treats the Apple Tablet as obvious fact. Has this actually been established? I know the rumors have hit a fever pitch, but has there been anything 100% credible yet?

necubi2• 17 years ago

Yes, in so far as major, main-stream news organizations (NYTimes, Wall St. Journal, etc.) have treated it as fact for months now. Additionally, if Apple were not about to announce a tablet they would have squashed this ages ago, as they have squashed previous out-of-control rumors that had no basis, like rumors about the imminent release of an ebook reader or netbook. Apple knows it can't allow this level of hype to build up if nothing is to come from it, and it knows that if February comes without a tablet announcement its stock with take a huge hit. Therefore, their silence is as good a confirmation as needed that the tablet does indeed exist and will indeed be announced soon.

icefox• 17 years ago

So what you are saying is that I could post a blog saying anything I want and get a lot of traffic, apple wont complain, and places like HN will post it?

hugh_• 17 years ago

I'm pretty unconvinced that it's a worthwhile product. I don't see a worthwhile gap in the market in between smartphones and laptops.

Smartphones are great because they fit in your pocket, but annoying because they lack some of the features of laptops. Laptops are great because they have full keyboards, optical drives etc but are annoying because they won't fit in your pocket. I don't really have any desire, though, for a device which has no keyboard and still won't fit in my pocket.

CamperBob• 17 years ago

It will certainly fill the gap on my dining-room table that used to be filled with piles of newspapers and magazines.

wendroid• 17 years ago

> However, in tech circles and beyond, Apple's Tablet is the only game in town.

That's a circle of hell I missed when reading Dante.

GHFigs• 17 years ago

Article Has No News Inside

nico_h• 17 years ago

WTF is this drivel doing here ? - "Intel 'had'[citation needed] a lock on the netbook market"

- The Apple tablet isn't released yet.

- Is the (as yet unreleased) Apple tablet(?) going to be a netbook by any stretch of the word ?

- The "Windows that runs Office" (XP, Vista, 7) doesn't run on ARM.

- ARM wasn't (isn't) as powerful as Atom. Neither is stuff from VIA or AMD in the price/power range.

- Apple did buy PA Semi for some reason.

- PA Semi has experience in power efficient Power architecture. (http://web.archive.org/web/20070927205658/http://www.pasemi....)

Something is wrong with the tenses of this 'article'.

"and it was widely assumed that the chip giant would win the Tablet contract at all costs. " :: would try to win at all cost. would need to win at all cost . was/is willing to win at all cost. ????

"Intel can't be happy sitting on the sidelines as Apple's new product catches on with consumers. "

Shouldn't present be replaced by speculative futur ?

tvon• 17 years ago

I so want this damn thing to be released (along with the MS tablet at CES) so we can stop dealing with all these speculations and renderings.

Apple Tablet Has No Intel Inside

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