"And while many pundits argue (and PA Semi even told some of its customers) that Apple was mainly acquiring intellectual property (IP), companies aren't typically bought that way these days. They are purchased for what they have already completed, not for what they might do in the future."
Sounds like a major contradiction to me. IP is what they have already completed.
Intel was offering higher performance at lower prices, so Apple made the jump. It was price and clock and nothing else and that's key, because Intel would like us to believe the X86 architecture played a role, too, which it didn't.
Got that right, only I don't think the primary cost savings was the chip itself. I think it was over where the boards are made where they can now buy almost generic PC parts, with a microcode change for the BIOS.
I'd love to see Apple go back to PowerPC, but I don't expect it to happen. If the main reason for going to Intel was to pick up Windows users, it was a waste of time. The Windows part of the Wintel duopoly is showing its age. I've always thought the sensible thing for both companies (setting legal issues aside) would be to merge, making the entry of any other company into the "PC" business a lost cause. As the two companies wane in influence, and the regulation blocks thus fade away, such a merger could eventually happen. Maybe Apple is being optimistic and painting an exit strategy.
Or maybe not.
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