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Control of the chip company that produces the silicon (design) for just about all mobile devices? And symbolically ARM would be folded into one of the 3 compan

by joubert 16y ago

Control of the chip company that produces the silicon (design) for just about all mobile devices? And symbolically ARM would be folded into one of the 3 companies that created it originally.

masklinn 16y ago
Arm does not produce silicon, they produce designs. And again, what would Apple gain from that control, the right to withhold new ARM generations from e.g. HTC? Unless the Apple execs have gotten very stupid recently, they probably understand that not only would the EU and the US regulatory agency would pay them a visit if they even initiated the move of buying ARM, doing that kind of withholding would land them in scorching hot water. It's one thing to have strange practices when you're the second or third player on the smartphone market (and basically non-existent in the wider mobile phone market in terms of number of units), it's another one to have anti-competitive practices when you have a monopoly on mobile chips. And ARM most definitely has that, there are few if any other architecture for mobile/embedded systems at all, and ARM has pretty much all of the market for mid to top-end embedded stuff.
- towndrunk 16y ago
  Maybe they have some nice IP and few patents that Apple would like to use against the A4 or future chip designs.
  - wlievens 16y ago
    A4 is ARM based
  - masklinn 16y ago
    I'm sure they have nice IP, but the point is that IP is embedded in the designs they produce which anybody can license, and which Apple already licenses, at least in part (the A4 is based on the Cortex A8, which is an ARM-designed core)
- 10ren 16y ago
  ARM dominates, yes. BTW: the other company mentioned is also a fabless core designer: Imagination Technologies. They are a bit lower-end than ARM, but disruption tends to come from below... They have some cool ideas for customized many-core, with a mix of CPU and DSP. My hunch has been that that's where Moore's Law will go: specialized silicon (like specialized organs in your body; or specialized firms in the economy.)
- jsz0 16y ago
  A more innocent explanation could be that Apple really believes in the ARM platform's continued success and thinks it's a good investment. Good way to hedge their bets. You can buy an iPhone and give them a big profit margin or you can buy an Android phone and give them the 30-50 cents ARM license fee.

by joubert 16y ago

Control of the chip company that produces the silicon (design) for just about all mobile devices? And symbolically ARM would be folded into one of the 3 companies that created it originally.

masklinn 16y ago

Arm does not produce silicon, they produce designs. And again, what would Apple gain from that control, the right to withhold new ARM generations from e.g. HTC? Unless the Apple execs have gotten very stupid recently, they probably understand that not only would the EU and the US regulatory agency would pay them a visit if they even initiated the move of buying ARM, doing that kind of withholding would land them in scorching hot water. It's one thing to have strange practices when you're the second or third player on the smartphone market (and basically non-existent in the wider mobile phone market in terms of number of units), it's another one to have anti-competitive practices when you have a monopoly on mobile chips. And ARM most definitely has that, there are few if any other architecture for mobile/embedded systems at all, and ARM has pretty much all of the market for mid to top-end embedded stuff.

towndrunk 16y ago
Maybe they have some nice IP and few patents that Apple would like to use against the A4 or future chip designs.
- wlievens 16y ago
  A4 is ARM based
- masklinn 16y ago
  I'm sure they have nice IP, but the point is that IP is embedded in the designs they produce which anybody can license, and which Apple already licenses, at least in part (the A4 is based on the Cortex A8, which is an ARM-designed core)
10ren 16y ago
ARM dominates, yes. BTW: the other company mentioned is also a fabless core designer: Imagination Technologies. They are a bit lower-end than ARM, but disruption tends to come from below... They have some cool ideas for customized many-core, with a mix of CPU and DSP. My hunch has been that that's where Moore's Law will go: specialized silicon (like specialized organs in your body; or specialized firms in the economy.)
jsz0 16y ago
A more innocent explanation could be that Apple really believes in the ARM platform's continued success and thinks it's a good investment. Good way to hedge their bets. You can buy an iPhone and give them a big profit margin or you can buy an Android phone and give them the 30-50 cents ARM license fee.