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Following up on rumors of a $800 Apple netbook, MacBook, iTablet, etc. VentureBeat reports that Apple might also use the new platform to introduce their long-rumored custom system-on-a-chip.
This would be the result of Apple purchasing fabless chip design firm Palo Alto Semiconductor (PA Semi) and hiring Papermaster from IBM and graphics processor (GPU) gurus x2 from AMD/ATI (though whether or not it includes the ARM and PowerVR licenses for cores found in the iPhone and iPod touch, or beefier Intel chips found in the Mac line is uncertain).
While Steve Jobs said PA Semi was going to be used for iPods and iPhones, VentureBeat claims the team was actually split in two, half for iPod/iPhone and half for the tablet.
TUAW speculates that, given recent news of problems between Apple and Nvidia, who currently makes the Mac integrated chipsets, perhaps Apple will push the custom work into that line as well.
Either way, we’ve seen the huge benefit shared software technology has provided for the iPhone and Mac (Spotlight, QuickTime X to name but two), Apple going in-house with the chipsets could be just as beneficial…
CNET has an interesting post up detailing what we can expect in the next generation ARM processor. Just yesterday we took a look at the iPhone 3G’s ARM 11 vs. the new iPhone 3G S’ Cortex ARM8 and the difference was impressive — most impressive. Well, next year is promising a dual-core ARM Cortex A9…!
Icebike sent this in, wondering out loud: “Is it too soon to start speculating on 2010?” And the simple answer is “no, no it’s not!” It’s longstanding practice here at TiPb to wait a polite 1.372 seconds after a new iPhone model is introduced, and then begin with “So, next year–”
That spirit in mind, TiPb can’t help but wonder what this, combined with multi-core PowerVR GPU’s, wrapped up into custom system-on-chips by Papermaster, the PA Semi team, and all those new GPU gurus toiling away in Steve’s basement, means for a 2010 iPhone? (No, I won’t call it an iPhone HD — yet!)
At the very least, I think DC comics is going to have to invent us a faster Flash!
Following up on the recent series of domino-like chipset stories, wherein Apple bought PA Semi CPU design firm, licensed ARM CPU architecture and PowerVR GPU architecture, Hired Papermaster from IBM and Drebin and Koduri from AMD/ATI, and have reportedly picked up over 100 chip designers from Samsung, Intel, Qualcomm, and other hardware companies.
Steve Jobs previously confirmed that PA Semi would be used to create system-on-chip components for future iPhones and iPods, but questions remain as to what exactly the master plan is behind these moves (unless Jobs just wants the world’s best gaming mod in his basement, of course…)
The Wall Street Journal, however, thinks it maybe less about the specifics of the hardware — though low-power, energy efficiency is still a major goal — and more about the control of it:
People familiar with the situation say Mr. Jobs told P.A. Semi engineers last April that he wanted to develop chips internally and didn’t want knowledge about the technology to leave Apple.
These new chips, containing technology that couldn’t be easily be shared with competitors or exposed to the rumor-mill, aren’t likely to appear for at least a year still, but shows how Apple’s strong position — including the success of the iPhone — give them the luxury of expanding in this way, in this market.
Apple is, after all, known for their Kremlin-eque love of secrecy, and recent supplier and manufacturer leaks of new iPod and iPhone components can’t have made Cupertino happy.
And of course, it could be the iPhone is still just the tip of the iceberg. When do we get our iPad that wireless connects to big screen TVs to become awesome multi-touch controllers for HD movies and games?
Something seriously smoking be going on round Apple way if the latest story from The Inquirer (via MacRumors) is to be believed:
We’ve just heard from sources deep inside 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California that [Raja Koduri, AMD/ATI Chief Technology Officer, Graphics Product Group] is heading there.
So for those keeping score at home, this adds to:
- PA Semi lower-power PPC chipset designer: bought
- ARM cpu: licensed
- PowerVR GPU graphics core: licensed
- Mark Papermaster, IBM chip guru: hired
- Bob Drebin, AMD/ATI graphics guru: hired
Steve Jobs has said Apple is working on their own systems-on-chip for future iPhones and iPod touches. Looks like that work has got some serious hardware, and talent behind it.
Our only question is, what’s going to melt the universe first, the Hadron Collider, or whatever Apple’s got cooking up in their basement?
The Inquirer (via iLounge) is reporting that AMD (formerly ATI) Graphics Products Group CTO Bob Drebin has updated his LinkedIn page to show he’s found a new home — at Apple.
This is another in an increasingly long line of chip-related acquisitions, licensing deals, and staffing additions Apple has made in the chipset arena in the last year, including buying PA Semi, licensing ARM and PowerVR, and hiring Mark Papermaster.
Even though leaked specs for the next gen iPhone suggest previous iPhone chip-maker Infineon is still on board for now, it’s fairly clear Apple is looking to make changes further out on the product road map.
Our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn, is wondering what they think they know about chips that nobody else does, driving them to move this in house?
We’re guessing it combines Apple’s desire for control and hardware customization/differentiation. Why do you think, and more importantly, what do you think Apple is going to do with all this firepower under the iPhone (and iPod touch) hood?
The long-running dispute between Apple and IBM over Apple’s hire of Mark Papermaster has come to a close, according to Apple PR:
Apple® today announced that Mark Papermaster will be coming to Apple as senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, reporting to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, on April 24. Papermaster, who comes to Apple from IBM, will lead Apple’s iPod® and iPhone™ hardware engineering teams. The litigation between IBM and Mark Papermaster has been resolvedThe move comes fully two months after a judge blocked Apple from going through with the Papermaster hire and although exactly how the “litigation [...] has been resolved” isn’t something that Apple is likely to disclose, TechCrunch reports that it was an out-of-course settlement rather than a “California doesn’t allow for non-compete agreements” barfight.
Papermaster will take the helm of iPhone and iPod hardware, replacing Tony Fadell (who was rumored to have pushed for Linux to be the basis for the iPhone). Odd that he’s going to have to wait until April 24th to take charge, but we suspect that won’t slow things down too much on hardware development. Got any advice for Papermaster? Would you like to seem him shephard in that iPhone HD? Think he’ll push for Quad-Core goodness?
We’re coming up on MacWorld awfully quick now (TiPb will be there, natch) and so the rumors are flying. Expectations have been decidedly lower than in years past due to the absence of his Steveness, but there’s one persistent rumor that just won’t go away: the iPhone Nano.
The universal response to these rumors has pretty much been “Meh.” Engadget wants to know what the deal is. Macrumors thinks that it’s just case makers riding Apple rumor coattails. Gizmodo doesn’t believe either.
The rumor won’t die, though, so: what if it were true? What would an iPhone Nano look like?
This week: we can’t stop talking about the App Store and what it means for developers. We recorded before 2.2 came out, but expect it to be the topic du jour next week for iPhone Live!
Daring Fireball has been digging into the saga of Tony Fadell, the “Father of the iPod” who’s left Apple, potentially to be replaced by Mark Papermaster (if they can get around IBM’s lawyers, that is).
What’s been turned up?
The iPhone’s software is overseen by Scott Forstall (Senior Vice President, iPhone Software), and, at a technical level, Bertrand Serlet (Senior Vice President, Software Engineering). There is no such division between hardware and software with the traditional (pre-Touch) iPods. The story I’ve heard is that at the outset of Apple’s iPhone initiative, there was a heated debate within Apple as to what OS should be used. Forstall and Serlet pushed for using OS X. Fadell (and, according to one source, former Apple executive Steve Sakoman) pushed for using something else.1 Obviously, Forstall and Serlet won this debate, and, hyperbolic though it may sound, it may prove to be the single best early design decision in the entire history of the company. It seems hard to imagine the iPhone any other way now, but at the outset it was not a foregone conclusion that a stripped down and revamped version of OS X would work for a mobile phone.
And the OS Fadell is rumored to have wanted to use instead?
Linux.
Needless to say, harnessing the already tremendous effort and technology behind OS X for their mobile wireless platform seems wicked-obvious in hindsight, as is avoiding the fragmentation of resources and focus that introducing a third OS (counting the already embedded iPod OS) would entail. However, the choice to go with OS X seems to have marginalized Fadell, taking him from the man behind Apple’s music success, to the man behind the times on Apple’s next great success, the iPhone.
And, hey, Linux eventually found a home on Android anyway!
