Apple CEO wanted Intel move 5 years ago
updated 07:15 pm EST, Wed December 7, 2005
Apple CEO, Intel move
In a recent interview with News.com, Freescale Semiconductor CEO Michel Mayer told of his company's evolving business model and revealed that Apple CEO Steve Jobs wanted to switch the Mac to Intel processors . Freescale Semiconductor is one of the 10 largest microchip manufacturers in the world, but Mayer said the company is in the midst of an "evolution of existing businesses" that will distance it from the personal computer market. When asked if he was present five years ago during the discussions when IBM convinced Apple to adopt the G5, Mayer said "in my previous job, I ran IBM's semiconductor business. So I've seen both sides of the Apple story, because I sold the G5 to Steve [Jobs] the first time he wanted to move to Intel."
Mayer's comments about Apple's transition fuel rumors that the Apple's move to the Intel architecture had been planned as early as five years ago, and recent statements by Jobs himself indicated that Apple worked hard to keep its five-year long Mac OS X for Intel project a well-kept secret, according to AppleInsider.
"So today for the first time, I can confirm the rumors that every release of Mac OS X has been compiled for both PowerPC and Intel," Jobs said in June when he announced Apple's plans to go Intel. "This has been going on for the last five years," he said.
Addicted to MacNN
Joined: Oct 2001
It makes sense...
Only Jobs would have been able to get Apple to develop OSX for Intel and PPC at the same time. Jobs probably knew it was inevitable, or just plain planned it, expecting to have problems with the G4 and the G5.
In the end, its secrecy was important. If this got out back in 2000, Apple might not have made it through the MHz drought of the G4 and G5.