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"Really the issue is that hardware is hard to get right and requires a lot of resources, resources that Apple has and many other companies do not." More than j

"Really the issue is that hardware is hard to get right and requires a lot of resources, resources that Apple has and many other companies do not." More than just that, Apple also has the considerable advantage of owning almost all of their stack. They make their own chips to power their hardware which runs their OS which uses their applications and their infrastructure. Apple has aggressively taken control of the entire top to bottom stack (eg App Store reviews, acquiring PA Semi) like nobody else has been willing and/or able to.

martythemaniak 16y ago
Samsung makes their processor.
- whakojacko 16y ago
  Samsung manufactures their processor. But the design of the A4 was done in-house by Apple. Edit: It does appear that Samsung helped design it, thanks for the correction HN :) I think my overall point still stands though
  - patrickaljord 16y ago
    A4 is just a customized version of the latest ARM.
    - whakojacko 16y ago
      Sure, but basically every mobile processor "is just a customized version" of some ARM design. My point is that Apple goes out of their way to control the design/performance instead of taking an off the shelf TI/Qualcomm/NVIDIA etc chip
      - detst 16y ago
        But the context of this discussion is that getting to market with hardware is hard. "[C]ontrol[ing] the design/performance" is only going to make that more difficult, not easier, than going off-the-self.
      - akgerber 16y ago
        Qualcomm's recent apps processors are in-house designs by an ex-IBM team. I believe Nvidia's are, as well.
  - martythemaniak 16y ago
    "The Cortex-A8 core used in the A4 is thought to use performance enhancements developed by chip designer Intrinsity (which was subsequently acquired by Apple)[10] in collaboration with Samsung.[11] The resulting core, dubbed "Hummingbird".. is also used in Samsung's S5PC110A01 SoC." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A4 The Samsung Galaxy S has the S5PC110 processor. This processor combines a 45 nm 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 based CPU core with a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU made by Imagination Technologies which supports OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0[21] and is capable of up to 20 million triangles per second.[3] The CPU core, code-named "Hummingbird", was co-developed by Samsung and Intrinsity.[22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S#Processor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S#Processor I guess you also consider added a wing and a skirt to a Civic "original design", with the car merely "manufactured" by Honda.
    - whakojacko 16y ago
      point taken, edit added
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
MaysonL 16y ago
They don't own their whole stack, but they do control it - especially the critical stuff - to a larger extent than other verndors. They've done this by making large bets on component manufacturers: first on flash memory, now on displays or touchscreens (or both).

martythemaniak 16y ago

Samsung makes their processor.

whakojacko 16y ago
Samsung manufactures their processor. But the design of the A4 was done in-house by Apple. Edit: It does appear that Samsung helped design it, thanks for the correction HN :) I think my overall point still stands though
- patrickaljord 16y ago
  A4 is just a customized version of the latest ARM.
  - whakojacko 16y ago
    Sure, but basically every mobile processor "is just a customized version" of some ARM design. My point is that Apple goes out of their way to control the design/performance instead of taking an off the shelf TI/Qualcomm/NVIDIA etc chip
    - detst 16y ago
      But the context of this discussion is that getting to market with hardware is hard. "[C]ontrol[ing] the design/performance" is only going to make that more difficult, not easier, than going off-the-self.
    - akgerber 16y ago
      Qualcomm's recent apps processors are in-house designs by an ex-IBM team. I believe Nvidia's are, as well.
- martythemaniak 16y ago
  "The Cortex-A8 core used in the A4 is thought to use performance enhancements developed by chip designer Intrinsity (which was subsequently acquired by Apple)[10] in collaboration with Samsung.[11] The resulting core, dubbed "Hummingbird".. is also used in Samsung's S5PC110A01 SoC." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A4 The Samsung Galaxy S has the S5PC110 processor. This processor combines a 45 nm 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 based CPU core with a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU made by Imagination Technologies which supports OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0[21] and is capable of up to 20 million triangles per second.[3] The CPU core, code-named "Hummingbird", was co-developed by Samsung and Intrinsity.[22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S#Processor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S#Processor I guess you also consider added a wing and a skirt to a Civic "original design", with the car merely "manufactured" by Honda.
  - whakojacko 16y ago
    point taken, edit added
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

MaysonL 16y ago

They don't own their whole stack, but they do control it - especially the critical stuff - to a larger extent than other verndors. They've done this by making large bets on component manufacturers: first on flash memory, now on displays or touchscreens (or both).