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By YC from the Technocrat Soapbox,
Guest Blogger

One would think that this would be the logical partnership for Apple. After all, AMD has consistently produced the highest-performing CPU (the Athlon 64 FX-60 was released yesterday) in the market for over 3 years now, and with a 'nonconformist' mentality to go with Apple's "Think Different" philosophy, who would be a better suitor?


Apple and AMD.
Just perfect, like milk and Oreo cookies.
But alas, this is not to be.

Sadly, it all boils down to Economics.

Apple dominated the PC Market in the first decade of the last 30 years, differentiating itself from its competitors by delivering creative and even fashionable products like the Apple ][, the Lisa, the Macintosh, and the Newton MessagePad.

But Apple's arrogance and political infighting culminated to the exodus of its spiritual leaders (Jobs was ousted in a boardroom coup and Wozniak resigned in frustration). The once proud and mighty operated in the red for almost another decade, withering down to a single-digit market share today (despite Jobs' eventual return in the mid-90's).

Today, although Apple is doing extremely well with its iPods, iMacs, iBooks, iTunes, and OS X Tiger; it is a different company. No longer just a de facto PC Company.

I have no doubt Steve secretly pines for the glory of days gone by. By partnering with a company that supplies about 80% of the CPUs in the Computer industry, INTEL, not AMD, is Steve's ticket back to the top.

By taking the safest and surest route, will Apple lose its unique identity? As a long-time Windows user, I am nonchalant about the issue. But as a long-suffering Windows user, I wish that Apple's resurgence would translate into more influence in the future of PC and Software developments. And partnering with AMD wouldn't be a bad idea.

Did I mention that my first PC was an Apple ][?

To learn more about Apple's history, I recommend watching the mini-series, "Pirates of Silicon Valley," starring ER's Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs and Saturday Night Live's Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates.

By YC from the Technocrat Soapbox,
Guest Blogger