An interesting blurb hit Forbes early Friday evening concerning Apple. The mainstream financial and business magazine mentioned Apple and IBM’s upcoming PowerPC 970 in its "People To Watch" piece for this week. Forbes says that "rumors are starting to build that Apple Computer is closer than previously thought to releasing a computer with a new chip produced by IBM." From the article:
And speaking of Steve Jobs, rumors are starting to build that Apple Computer is closer than previously thought to releasing a computer with a new chip produced by IBM, which we first reported here in October 2002. The chip in question is the IBM Power PC 970, and while IBM wouldn’t come right out and say so, it has been clear for some time that the chip is being aimed squarely at making Apple a big customer of IBM chips.
[…]
When IBM first presented information on the chip at an engineering conference in October, it suggested the chip would be ready for volume production by mid-2003.
[…]
To date, Apple has said nothing about using the chip in future systems, but it would be crazy not to consider it.
There’s more information in the full article at Forbes. There is also some information about Pixar’s goings-on in the same section of the story.
The Mac Observer Spin:
Note that there really isn’t much actual news in the article, and nothing to substantiate the rumor, as Forbes called it. It’s not that Forbes has done anything wrong with this piece, we just felt it important to point out that this mention is little more than a recounting of speculation, and shouldn’t be taken as proof that Apple will necessarily be making any sort of announcements soon. Beware attempts to make it that sort of proof.
Mind you, TMO is of the opinion that Apple will likely move the PowerPC 970 as soon as it can, but speculation as to when that will happen is just that, speculation. One should keep that in mind.