Apple will adopt Intel’s ultra-mobile PC platform, AppleInsider has learned. Early next year, it will build a new breed of ultra-mobile processors from the chipmaker into a fresh generation of handheld devices, says the publication.
The pair’s first foray into this extended venture appears to have been the Apple TV wireless set-top-box, which employed a down clocked Intel Pentium M “Crofton” chip at its core. But what’s on tap next promises to push the envelope in a completely different direction — ultra-mobile PCs.
People familiar with the matter tell AppleInsider that Apple will soon emerge as one of the largest supporters of Intel’s “Menlow” Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform — the same platform the Santa Clara-based chipmaker has been harping about for the past several months.
More specifically, those same people say, Apple has taken a liking to the upcoming 45-nanometer (nm) “Silverthorne” chip, agreeing to use it in not one but multiple products currently situated on its 2008 calendar year product roadmap.
While those people familiar with Apple’s product roadmap did not specify in which products the company planned to utilize the Silverthorne processors, two seemingly apparent contenders appear to be the second-generation 3G iPhone and the much rumored Newton successor / ultra-portable slate computer.
In related news, Nicholas Ciarelli, who operates Think Secret, was sued by Apple for publishing trade secrets in January 2005. In a brief statement Thursday on his site, Mr. Ciarelli said that he had reached a settlement with Apple and that he would stop publishing Think Secret.
Mr. Ciarelli, a senior at Harvard, would not comment on whether Apple had given him money to persuade him to cease publishing. But he said he was pleased with the outcome of the negotiations, reports the New York Times.
