Opinion: Use of mainstream architecture could build on momentum created by iPod's success to help Apple provide the lifestyle and entertainment computer of the future.Before getting down to the more interesting stuff, let's get one thing out of the way: In my humble opinion, Apple's move to Intel processors seems quite coherent from a hardware perspective.
As a Mac user since 1984, I have lived through every step of the Macintosh hardware saga, and it is sad to say, the huge performance benefits that were promised from the different generations of chips never totally materialized.
I love my G5. It is faster than a high-end PC for some tasks, but it is also slower for some others. In other words, the whole platform-performance thing is a tie, and the G5 has not evolved anywhere near as fast as initially promised by Apple. (And let's not even discuss the painful issue of the nonexistent G5 PowerBooks.) Somewhere along the line, things just haven't worked out as advertised.
Of course I'm not a developer, and I can see that the transition will present a challenge and require some additional resources, but from a user's perspective, nothing should change; Tiger will still look like Tiger. The Mac UI won't feel different because it's running on Intel silicon. And we can trust Apple to come up with a catchy name and clever marketing for the next high-end Macintosh platform.
Adobe backs Apple's move. Click here to read more.
As for the hard-core enthusiasts now proclaiming that they will never buy Apple again, what are they going to chose as their computing platform? Longhorn, if and when it ships? Linux? Xbox 360?
But all this doesn't answer the real question behind Apple's announcement. Why NOW? There are a number of intriguing coincidences in this setup. And as always, it pays to look at what is not said—or shall we say, carefully avoided?
First of all, this announcement is more about standardization than it is about hardware. It is about preparing for something else. Apple has painfully learned the cost of being nonstandard and has become increasingly standards-compliant.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has never learned this lesson. How surprising is it really that Apple announces its move to Intel processors at the same time that Microsoft is abandoning the standard PC platform for its next-generation Xbox games console? Not to mention Sony's move to the cell processor jointly developed with IBM for the PlayStation 3?
With the move to Intel processors, Steve Jobs is putting everything in line for the major assault on the next huge step in computing: the living room. So is Microsoft, of course: We have heard the story about how the next-generation game consoles will be "entertainment centers," capable of playing DVDs or television and going online.
The problem is that it won't work. We have heard this story before, for the PlayStation 2, as well as for the first Xbox (and for Apple's Pippin years earlier, for those of us who remember).
There is no reason why today's efforts from Microsoft and Sony should work any better. With proprietary hardware, no software and nonexistent market share, how compelling will it be to develop anything other than games for these machines?
More importantly, what could make the mainstream consumer want to use an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3 as the center of the entertainment hub? (I won't even get into the issue of trying to get your 12-year-old to stop playing because you want to listen to some music or surf the Web.)
Next Page: Computing may never reach the living room.
Bringing computing to the living room has been tried so many times, it has become a joke. Even when endowed with a remote control and bigger-than-usual icons and buttons, the common PC just doesn't cut it when it comes to bridging the gap between consumer electronics and mainstream computing.
The big hurdle for the appliance computer is ease of use, reliability and trust. Consumer electronics sell because they are simple. You switch a TV set on and it works. You understand what it does without reading any manuals. You are comfortable with it. You trust it. When did you last have a virus on your television set?
As far as consumer electronics go, Apple has made one big step with the iPod, and in the process it has created a loyal user base and the brand image of a company who delivers easy-to-use, smart, reliable products. In other words, from a pure marketing perspective, the company is far better suited to deliver the next generation of consumer electronics than Microsoft and even—at this point—Sony. It was just too bad that the architecture of the Mac is so different from 95 percent of the computers out there.
Something there had to change—and that's what has happened. Over the past five to 10 years, Apple has become increasingly standards-compliant: Hard drives, keyboards and screens all used to be proprietary, yet they have become completely interchangeable between Macs and PCs. The move to Intel processors is just one more step in this direction of adopting standards where it makes sense.
And where does it make sense? Even Steve Jobs cannot make a market evolve faster than it is. Consumer-level computing, the much-ballyhooed digital lifestyle if you will, is still in its infancy.
Does the OS still matter to graphics pros? Click here to read Andreas Pfeiffer's thoughts.
Music is just the beginning. Digital imaging is another step. Streaming movies will be next. Being the innovator in these technologies doesn't pay, as Apple well knows. Understanding when the market is ripe for a new generation of technology and delivering a superior product at that time is the art that Apple is mastering.
The move to Intel processors is just one step in this direction. Forget faster computers, the better processor road map. To reach the market Apple is heading for, it needs to be able to integrate with the rest of the world. Not to run Windows, or to sell Mac OS X to Windows users, but to steer consumer-level computing out of Windows dominance (and problems) in an easy, step-by-step way.
Will it happen? Who knows. But one thing seems pretty clear: Apple has a better shot at this than the Xbox 360 or the Media Center PC.
Andreas Pfeiffer is founder of The Pfeiffer Report on Emerging Trends and Technologies.
Graphics Tools 
