Stan's List

The Mac web has been abuzz over what Apple must have in mind for the PPC CPU company. ZDNet suggests that, in response to the military’s request for a non-Intel laptop, the PA Semi’s dual-core, 64-bit, low-power PWRficient processor will be seen in future. This is a design based on IBM’s Power 3 CPU’s, cousins to the G5 processors.

Forbes’ initial report, for example claimed the P.A. Semi deal “could spell a new future for Apple’s flagship iPhone.” Ars Technica concluded that Apple’s move “disses Intel’s Atom”-a reference to the new low-power processor line from Apple’s chipmaker of choice.

Is it just to obtain patent rights, and the engineers who created those patent rights, as some have suggested? Apples secrecy is not strange to us. It will be a wait and see.