Steve Jobs announced today that Apple will be abandoning the PowerPC chip architecture in favor of Intel’s x86 chips, most notably featuring the Pentium line of processors. Jobs revealed that Apple has had an Intel-compatible version of OS X in the wings for five years, long rumored to be code-named "Marklar." Next year should see the first Macs shipped with "Intel Inside."
To be perfectly honest, I’m not exactly sure how to feel about this. IBM has had difficulty supplying chips to Apple, and they haven’t been able to break the promised 3 GHz barrier. Furthermore, the PowerPC chips run so hot that they are unable to be used in Apple’s notebooks, leaving Apple behind on the portable power curve.
On the other hand, there may be some "hiccups" in software as developers and users transition to the new x86 chips. From the looks of it, though, Apple didn’t have much of a choice but to abandon the PowerPC. The upcoming Xbox 360 is using three PowerPC processors in each console- If IBM was having trouble supplying Apple with chips before, what will happen now that demand for the chips has increased? I have a feeling that Apple may have taken a back seat to Microsoft and other game console companies using the PowerPC chip in their machines.
Apple is doing very well at the moment- if the transition between the two chip architectures is relatively painless, then the move will prove to be very wise. If it’s messy and difficult, Apple may end up alienating loyal customers, which would be a huge blow to the company.
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