[sinjin]

Hardly a surprise, I guess. Luckily, Apple has IBM making consistently good products (the G3 and the G5). But this really leaves things up in the air and anything seems possible. Apple could end up with only IBM making chips. That would be very bad! Hopefully, Motorola's semiconductor unit will get picked up and managed properly, which would be a significant change from Motorola's strategy, to drag Apple down, since oh about 1997

Edit: forgot link
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/031006/tech_motorola_10.html

 

[hayesk]

FYI, they are just spinning it off, not selling it. They'll still own it, but it'll operate as an independent company. Kind of like Apple and FileMaker.

 

[The Great Waka]

too bad. Would be interesting if they were selling it, and Apple was to buy it. Alas, I am dreaming again...

 

[sinjin]

Ooops, that was sloppy of me! Yes, haysek, Moto is spinning it off, not selling it off.

I would add that the difference is likely to be slight in this case. It still means potentially huge changes in the long term development of PowerPC and the AIM trinity (Apple, IBM and Motorola). Moto's SU is in bad shape. They have a good base in embedded markets but poor performance (stagnant PPC development) in the PC market with few customers (pretty much just Apple) and low sales. Whoever takes control of the SU is either going to see PPC as something to operate on, or to amputate, because it can't go on festering. But the only thing I can say for sure is this is fodder for great drama at "As the Apple Turns" and that is Good News&#153.