Apple marrying Intel for their DRM chips?
By Barb Dybwad 
posted June 6th 2005 7:33AM
posted June 6th 2005 7:33AM
So Wired's Leander Kahney has an idea about why Apple is
moving to Intel chips (insert obligatory "Switcher" joke here): it's not their rugged good looks nor their charming
dinner conversation — Apple is after Intel for their DRM. Now that the
Pentium D comes with a hardware-based copy protection
mechanism, the idea is that the movie industry will look more favorably upon devices employing said chips. And Apple
would need to support of the movie industry if they wanted to do something crazy like, say, build out a movie on
demand/iTunes Movie Store. So — we do know Apple is newly
in love with Intel, but all the rest is still speculation. What's your take? We want your predictions, so spill it,
yo.
[Thanks, Kun Kim]
all in all...drm is a waste of money. hackers will crack it. plain and simple. the honest people remain honest regardless of drm in place or not. just look at the success of itunes. and people who download music and such illegally now, will continue to do so.
Could using Intel chips mean cheaper Mac prices and perhaps faster laptops?
Except the Pentium chip doesn't have any DRM in it. According to the release they made yesterday that /. posted.
Intel doesn't offer embedded DRM. Here is the story:
May 26: Computerworld Today Australia story incorrectly reported that the Intel Pentium D processor and Intel 945 Express Chipset includes unannounced embedded DRM technology.
The Intel Pentium D Processor and the Intel 945 Express Chipset family do not have unannounced embedded DRM technologies.
The DRM technology referred to in a recent report was not a secret or an embedded DRM from Intel. Intel does support various content protection technologies including DTCP-IP technology, which is publicly offered by a number of companies in the industry to enable protected transport of compressed content within a home network.
I think this sounds like the most probable option.
Imagine:
Intel chip with built-in DRM
new ATI chip with hardware-accelerated H.264
All as part of the new Apple High Def Home Media Hub
Since it would be a relatively closed system, Apple could deploy OS X on Intel and not have to worry about developers recompiling code.
Any Dashboard widgets would work since they are written using HTML/CSS/JavaScript. That would allow for customization without significantly impacting the OS.
iTunes and Quicktime are already working under windows, move iPhoto and iMovie over as well and there you have it. A new device to view all your media that allows Apple to sell high def movies to you at home.
There is no DRM in Intel or AMD chips. It was made up by some magazine. Intel denied it with a press release.
My Theory: Apple is working with intel so that it can have both x86 and PPC chips in its computers. Then it can run Windows applications without emulating the processor (in VPC at least) so that more people would be willing to convert as they wouldn't need to give up their apps.
could it be ...
... that Intel will make the chip for the Apple Media Center?
Like, kind of a mac mini for renting buying Video & Audio, living room only, with that Intel DRM chip, a stripped down version of OS X, and only Apple will distribute programs, and no other apps run on it / are supposed to run on it?
therefore, a true additional CPU for your household - file swapping with your primary computer is not possible (aside from maybe feeding it your existing MP3 collection, file "export" will be impossible) so no-one else has to write / change / recompile applications (obviously some geeks will find a way sooner or later, Apple will voice it´s anger publicly, but at least it´s won´t have to pay programmers nor p*** off it´s core customers / programmers)
my €.04
Matt
intel inside.
I'm dying to see the logo on the new macs.
Prediction / Hope / Pipe Dream:
Apple rolls out a media center based off of the G5 and a modified Pentium D (used for media DRM) that will accept movie and music files from the iTunes Store on a rental and/or purchase basis.
:: crosses fingers ::
@3: No, they said "the pentium D doesn't have any unanounced DRM features." Macrovision and TCPA were however announced.
Odd that people fall for something that obvious.
My theory: Apple is sick and tired of being treated like a third rate customer by IBM; IBM doesn't necessarily WANT to treat Apple this way but with their (meaning Apple) market share, and hence sales, and hence again the purchase volumes from IBM . .. IBM has little choice. I don't know if you noticed (think Levono) but IBM is cutting their loss-leader divisions. They are doing what every company has been doing lately, consolidating. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if in all actuality this is IBM’s doing, but Apple (read Steve Jobs) negotiated the rights to make the announcement their (his) way. Anyway the real point here is that Apple wants cheaper hardware, (and IBM wants to cut their losses, though you and I will probably never hear that) and the simplest and most effective way to do that is switch to x86. Don't expect Apples prices to drop though, they are still going to have proprietary hardware and BIOS, so that they can continue their grip on stability and support. If you have looked beyond the OS you already know that this, though don't you. . . . Hey it's just a theory.
I hope Apple is planning on launching new products with the move to Intel. I also hope they will be able to make the switch without disrupting its current line of products and alienating its users.
Talking with Intel does not mean that Apple will buy X86 processors. Since Apple is co-developer of PowerPC processor - it is possible that Intel might be contracted to produce them. Other possibility are some specialised chips for whatever new device Apple might be making - think Wi-Max for instance. Do not forget that first AirPort wireless stations actually had 80486 processor in them!
As for moving to x86 processor I think it is higly unlikely - reporting all software is a huge task and not something taken lightly (just remember how long it took Quark to make OSX version of QuarkXpress - and that was still the same processor!).
Of course it is also possible that this is Apple spin doctors have launched this as a sure-fire "news" intended to draw maximum media attention to the WWDC and to discredit rumor-sites! I can only imagine Steve laughing his pants off. Steve, if you have pulled this one off and are reading this - I want you to know that you are one sick (=clever) bastard! ;-)
If they build it, I won't buy it.
I personaly would love to be able to run, both Mac OS X and Windows on the same box!
The only thing that pisses me off about this is the impact on the resale of my existing hi-end G5 machine... er, that and the fact that I'll have to update/replace/upgrade every app in my current workflows :(
Intel developed WIMAX - they make the chipsets for WIMAX ...
Apple needs to expand the number of users that have access to the iTunes Music Store
They also need to have a broader base of users with broadband before they could launch an iMovie store
WIMAX is touted as broadband for the rest of us - it's the broadband that will go the extra mile and twice as fast as cable modems!
I see Apple jumping on this early ... just like they did with Airport - calling it AirportMAX and announcing a partnership with INTEL for a huge nationwide deployment - BOTH companies have the cash to fund this.
Stay on the topic please and Tom you are an idiot. No one cares what you would do. You just post to get some exposure to your web site - get lost.
Rus you are a little late with that prediction. It will happen both Intel and AMD are comming to an Apple platform near you. Intel for mobile parts and AMD for desktop systems.
I think Apple is talking to Intel about possibly porting to the IA64 platform. With AMD pretty much taking over the 64 bit platform for PC with x86-64, Intel may be trying to get more people interested in IA64, and why not Apple?
Look the only user interaction, these days, is with the OS. Apple has an OS that is far more superior to windows. So why not go to a hardware platform that is (no value add these) cheaper and sell more high margin OS and software by placing the whole product at a lower price point? Gates should wake up now and smell the coffee. Can he hear the army marching (competition) closer to windows?
Next product from Apple - a tablet Mac at $2000 price point. Can you imagine a Mac tablet with OS X?
Jobs is by far the best strategist of the current times.
The Tom in posts 14 & 15 is not the same as 13. That dude sucks.
A friend of mine brought up an interesting theory yesterday. Apple isn't talking to Intel for desktop chips. Recall that Apple already filed patents for some sort of tablet device, and then recall that Intel makes the ARM family of mobile processors.
Now Tom is Jeff. Get off that blog you f***ing moron.
Rodgers,
It's not a prediction and actually I said it 8 days ago - just reiterating it here. And if you could ... point to another forum (where I had not said it first) that this is over WIMAX?
Anyone who thinks Apple is switching to Intel chips is an idiot. Apple sales would PLUMMET - they won't be able to clear the channel for months!!!
If anything, this will be a new partner in the AIM partnership possibly I-AIM ... but I doubt it's anything of the sort.
#23 et al: Where will you be this evening, after Apple has announced their intention to switch to x86? You will have long since slinked back to your little hovel to eat that crow, suddenly silent on the matter, I think. The rest of us will be waiting for you, in forums like these, to watch you talk out of the other side your face. If you guys REALLY believe that Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Wired, C|Net, and Engadget (did I miss any?), have somehow all been conned into backing this story, I'd sure as hell like to know what your basis for that assumption is.
I know one thng: Apple has not refreshed their PC lineup in a LONG time. Their inventory must be at an all-tme low - pretty much as low as it will ever be, actually. If they're going to do something like this, there's no better time than right now.
I just feel all icky!
#24 - WRONG.
Apple updated their "PC lineup" (which I assume you mean Desktop lineup) on April 27th, 2005. This was just a modest speed bump, but that's all that was expected.
#4, #6 - Intel stated that the new chips "do not have unannounced DRM technology" and so far they've already declared the inclusion of "several copy protection schemes." Read through Intel's previous press releases and you'll find that DRM is part of the "Trusted Computer" Platform" and that the "Trusted Computer Platform" is a component of the 945 chipset. I hope consumers F Wintel and Apple in the A if they actually implement this crap.
I just hope they don't put that 'Intel' jingle at the end of Apple adverts.
I would bet that one of two things will happen. Apple will build high-end pc's and de-emphasise their OS, perhaps even one day offering a Mac with Windows, or they will press hard to have third party computer makers switch from Windows to the Mac OS, which will now run on their Intel based machines. If Mac could take away a significant portion of the OS market form Microsoft, it would be very profitable, as well as being an interesting turn around.
This isn't the reason why Apple are switching to Intel. It'd be far, far easier on Apple to just license DRM IP & circuit designs and embed it in their machine motherboards, which they develop in-house. DRM IP is common as muck these days.
It's not for the DRM they switched. Come 2007 there is going to be loads of cheap, very powerful PC technology on the market (to support Longhorn - 6ghz, 1Tb HD, 2GB ram, etc minimum spec) and IBM simply didn't have anything to match that. Apple in that market with weak hardware would be doomed.