Slashdot Mirror
Motorola To Spin Off Chip Division
dafz1 writes "According to an article
at CNET News, Motorola
has announced they will create a new company from their Semiconductor Products
Sector (SPS), which builds chips such as the PowerPC. Reasons cited include 'surrendering to IBM a key role in delivering the PowerPC for Apple Computer's top-of-the-line desktop'. This follows earlier news that Motorola's CEO will step down, citing a 'difference
of opinion' with fellow executives."
Too bad they didn't do this a couple of years ago. We would have been a lot better off. Good to see the executives saw the same thing.
- oZ
// i am here.
The new company at least will give a damn about its chip business -- it's all they've got -- something that Mot itself never did.
Surprised they didn't sell it, but they probably couldn't find any takers.
Surrendering to IBM a key role in delivering the PowerPC for Apple Computer's top-of-the-line desktop'
Um... last time I checked it was Motorola lackluster development the drove Apple into IBM's arms.
"Just because we can do something doesn't mean we have to do it," Galvin told an audience of thousands of wireless executives on Monday during his keynote address at the CTIA Wireless 2003 spring convention.
Galvin's comments run counter to what other CEOs had to say in their keynotes. Instead of stressing the voice call, most wireless companies are using the show to introduce even more complex data services such as behind-the-firewall access for mobile workers, or the ability to tap into wireless "hot spots" for high-speed Web connections, as Verizon Wireless announced Monday.
I must say that I agree with Galvin in that they need to improve upon their current service before throwing in additional features. In a way this seems to be a little like M$. Let's throw out a whole bunch of new things and fix it later. I prefer they fix what they have and make it bullet proof and then add new *stuff*. By no means am I endorsing Motorola, I do not follow them at all but I have to agree with him on this topic.
alias dir='rm -rf
Motorola has been having problems with their advanced semiconductor products, particularly PowerPC microprocessors, for years. When Apple first released the Power Mac G4, there were so many fabrication problems at Motorola's chip foundries that Apple initially had to scale back what were supposed to be 500MHz G4s to 450MHz, a move that really hurt Apple's credibility in the computing world.
More recently, Moto had been having problems delivering G4 7447s in sufficient quantities for Apple to release their Powerbook upgrades, including the much-ballyhooed 15" Aluminum model. In any case, Apple's decision to go with IBM's PowerPC technology was probably motivated as much by pragmatic corporate survivalism as any other factor -- they simply couldn't afford to be tied down by a semiconductor sloth like Motorola.
In any case, I doubt this means much for Moto's embedded processor and microcontroller business, which has been thriving for quite some time. It just doesn't operate under the same pressure as the rapidly advancing world of high-performance microprocessor products. The 68HC11 and HCS12 will probably be around for a very long time to come.
The G5 are actually 25% cheaper to produce than the Moto G4s. The expense comes into manufacturing the mobos and the cooling systems and so the cost of the main components stays the same. The price point of the professional line of comptuers from Apple has not increased with the release of the G5.
...And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
Motorola was placed in contrast with Zenith. Both companies were established at around the same time and were basically in the same market. Over time, however, Zenith languished while Motorola kept on crankin' out the hits. Motorola's culture encouraged innovation and relentless focus on quality.
Those of you who graduated from college in the 1990s or 2000s likely won't remember this, but in the 1980s, Motorola was one of the view companies that was consistently beating Japanese companies in quality. They were hailed by US government and business leaders alike as an exemplar of what an American business could do in a challenging international market.
This is just further proof that nobody sits on top forever, and that keeping a very large, multinational business dynamic is a tremendously difficult task.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Indeed. Motorola makes a fine line of embedded controllers and other processors and chips. I've worried for some time that trying to compete in the hot-dog contest with the likes of Intel and AMD was seriously damaging the company.
Now maybe they can get back to the 68HC11, '12, '05, '08 parts where they've got a damned fine product line. Let someone else be the megaherz weenies.
A Good Intro to NetBS
I loved the HC11, with its Serial peripheral interface and the AD/DA converters.
Really, the assembler language was great and 10 years or so ago you could get EVBU kits with the Buffalo environment loaded into EPROm on the board for, what, 50 bucks.
I have a nephew who's learning them in a Microcontrollers class. Great chip in my opinion.
First I had to take the entire thing apart. This, if you've been inside a laptop, is not an easy trivial task. It needs the battery and case to come off, the drive and optical drive to come out, and apples STUPID design inside them meant I had to file away some parts as they were put in without obviously meaning to be taken apart again.
RTFM, dumbass.
For starters, Apple's optional AirPort is built to use the pre-wired Powerbook antennae (for what they're worth in the TiPB) so it's a custom part. You _can_ use a standard part (such as an 802.11g) in the PC-card slot, though it's uglier.
In addition, according to Apple's free installation documentation, you remove the battery, pull the base plate, slip in the airport card, attach antenna, and close it up. They even draw you a picture!
If you were pulling optical drives or filing pieces, then you obviously didn't RTFM.
OTOH, having worked on junker PC laptops for the better part of a decade, I have to say that the PB is probably the easiest to work on I've ever owned. I had to reseat the 'q' key at one point after I dropped something on the keyboard, and luckily the keyboard is removable via ribbon connector! I restored the kybd with a bit of under-membrane surgery and tweezing, and I couldn't have asked for better. BTW, if you want to upgrade the PB RAM, the SODIMM slot is under the easily-removed keyboard.
I plan on holding onto mine until the toy budget recovers and/or the G5 Powerbook is available.
I need to vent guys and here I hope I find sympathy! I HATE MACS
There are perfectly valid reasons to hate Macs. Your rant, OTOH, is just sad.
Anyway, I've talked my friend into getting rid of her Mac addiction, she will definitely be buying a Dell next!
With friends like you, who needs Saddam Hussein?
Apple's bread and butter is high margin professional systems. They will not bring the G5 'down market' until there are even faster G5s available on the high end. Availability and marketing are a lot more important than cost here.
IBM did the same thing with its old printer division. IBM spun off the division into a separate company, Lexmark.
In this age where many companies like Sun, Cisco, and Intel favor H-1B workers and deliberately create a work environment with brutal, cutthroat competition, it is nice to know that some companies like Motorola and IBM still try to cling to some shred of humanity that once characterized the finest American companies.
Basically, they believed Moto corporate was sandbagging the PPC to "screw Apple."
As an avid Mac follower, yeah, I could believe that too, exactly for the reason that you mention--to spite Apple after Jobs killed the clones.
Here's a related question: there've been rumors that Apple will sue Moto for stopping production on the G4 prematurely; apparently the contract with Moto spelled out a timeframe of warning that Moto would have to give Apple. Would the parent Moto be liable, or would the spun off company? Would the minimization of liability be one of the reasons to spin off the PPC unit, so that the liability follows the PPC company and doesn't harm the (viable) parent?
I'm kinda surprised that Apple didn't buy the rights to the PPC--if they're not even interested, who would be?
--
$tar -xvf