RichardC (tich.delete@this.pobox.com) on September 28, 2013 6:02 am wrote:
> Doug S (foo.delete@this.bar.bar) on September 27, 2013 6:09 pm wrote:
> > Why do you think this is a problem for Intel? Apple is
> > unique, and people have never purchased their products
> > for their performance. That goes doubly true for the Air.
> > If they make the switch, it hurts Intel somewhat
> > since Apple's volumes aren't insignificant, but Apple is a special case, not a recipe others can follow.
>
> If you look at laptop design and then smartphone design over the last 10-12 years,
> everyone else has tried their damnedest to copy Apple just about as closely as they can.
> And with good reason, because Apple has figured out the trick of taking mostly commodity
> components and making a premium product which commands a high margin, through a
> combination of excellent design, manufacturing, marketing, and support.
>
> Aluminum-case laptops, chiclet keys, online app stores, touchscreen smartphones,
> usable tablets, superthin laptops, retina screens. Where Apple goes, the others
> try to follow. Often with great success (I just got a Samsung Galaxy S3 myself ...)
>
> Now there's still a considerable challenge on the software side, because neither
> Android nor Linux seems to have the right apps yet to handle *everything*
> people do on laptops (and Apple isn't going to give away MacOS/iOS). But given
> how fast the ARM ecosystem has progressed over the last 5 years (and the horrible
> lack of progress on the Windows side ...) I don't see the x86 ISA being enough
> to protect Intel's market share and margins in the long run.


Sure, they copy things that Apple has found a market for. Tangible things that make a difference in the form factor or in the usability of a product. Using ARM rather than x86 does neither.

Why should, say Dell for example, follow Apple with an ARM laptop? (assuming Apple makes one) How is it going to be a sales advantage for Dell to say "ARM inside"? The only reason they'd do it is to sell them cheaper, but putting an ARM SoC in a $200 laptop isn't exactly following Apple, since they'd be putting one in the $999 Air.

Didn't they already go down this road a few years ago, with Netbooks? How did those work out again?

If Apple switched to ARM SoCs in the Air, they would be doing it to take more control over the overall design (hardware + software) of their products, but the PC makers don't care about that. The PC makers don't use much of the control they do have over the design of their products, let alone want to take more. That's why Intel has to spoon feed them everything, like they did the Ultrabook concept. Or Microsoft has to push them forward, like they used to with the PCxx requirements. There'd probably still be some PCs shipping with PS2 keyboards if they weren't forced forward by Microsoft requirements and Intel southbridge changes.