I thought PA Semi was PowerPC?

everyone's talking about ARM here, but PA Semi did low-power PPC chips.

i like the thought that Steve might announce, in another year or two, that the relationship with Intel is done and that PPC is the true future of Apple technology.

He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.

They'd better stick to something ARM-compatible so they can go back to someone else's chips if this falls through.

Then again, I really do think they'll switch to x86 in 3-5 years when the power envelope comes down enough to allow them to do so.

When the PA Semi deal was announced most observers seemed to think this was what Apple was thinking. The timeframe is what is unclear. Apple could easily go through another couple of iPhone revisions before they have their own guts ready to go.

Of course it would be amusing if they also had a plan to scale up to produce an ARM-based low-end Macbook (or perhaps a slate-style tablet, an oversized iPhone).

Apple's in bed with Intel. Why not put a low power Atom chip in there?

Shocking move given Apple just bought PA Semiconductor! Err no wait..

Be interesting to see if Apple will make it possible to run Rockbox, etc. on the new design. They might not release CPU architecture documentation at all.

I accept to punishment for double post but don't wanna waste two awesome reply in one place :P