A problem of pathology
The dark satanic rumour mill is
claiming that Apple is going to design computer chips for its own gear as early
as next year. The rumours follow the recruitment of chip designers to its
light and frothy team at Cappuccino. While the fan boys are rejoicing at the
prospect of yet another bit of kit that Jobs' Mob will put out, the move covers
something a lot darker.
Since its inception Apple has been even more
pathological about its proprietary nature than Microsoft. Generally this has
been bad for its customers and created issues like lock ins, ties to less than
great phone dealers, you name it. Apple is everything that is bad about
proprietary models.
If Apple creates its own chips it can only be for one
purpose. To create Apple-only features and keep its product plans secret from
its competitors. True Apple may be looking to improve with its own chips
include energy efficiency, graphics capability for gaming and high definition
video, handwriting technology, and display management. However it also means
that how these work will be kept secret from its users. A person cannot write a
program for Apple unless they know how the chip works, if Apple controls this
then it also controls every aspect of production.
Apple hates having to use
outside suppliers. It likes the cost reduction aspect, which means it can have
ridiculous mark ups on its gear, but it hates the chance that one of its
partners might leak product details to the media. Why does that matter. It
doesn't really, but it is an expression of the psychologically unbalanced nature
of Apple's secrecy. Getting news about a product is usually considered a good
thing, however Apple is so anal about control it wants products only released
when it says so.
Apple is concerned that technology developed for Apple by a
third-party could be sold to Apple's competitors. The Merom-based chip Intel developed
for the MacBook Air is one example. Intel flogged another reduced-size processor
shortly after the MacBook Air debuted in 2008.
So if Apple is going into the
chip business it is not something that people should be happy about. It could
mean that they do even less with their expensive gear than they can now.