San Francisco – Apple Computer Inc.’s historic shift to Intel microprocessors came months earlier than expected as chief executive Steve Jobs on Tuesday premiered personal computers based on new two-brained chips from the world’s largest semiconductor company.
The first Macs to deploy Intel Corp.’s Core Duo processors will be the latest iMac desktop, whose circuitry is all built into the slim display, and the all-new MacBook Pro laptop.
When it announced the massive switch in June, Apple said it expected to begin making the transition by mid-2006. Tuesday, Jobs was joined at the Macworld Expo by Intel chief executive Paul Otellini to unveil the new jointly designed computers.
Apple is on a tear with its hugely popular iPod music players. Earlier Tuesday, Jobs said the company had a record $5.7 billion in sales in the last quarter.
Repercussions of the switch could be enormous for other industry players, including Microsoft Corp. Apple has now erased concerns that Macs lag behind Windows-based PCs in performance.
Jobs said Apple’s entire Mac line will be converted to Intel chips by the end of this year – a move analysts say could boost Apple’s computer sales.
“Companies don’t typically underpromise and overdeliver, and that’s exactly what Apple has done,” Sam Bhavnani of Current Analysis said of the launch.
For years, Apple had shunned Intel, which provided chips that power a majority of the world’s PCs along with Microsoft’s Windows. In the late 1990s, Apple even ran TV ads with a Pentium II glued to a snail.
But Apple became increasingly frustrated in recent years as its chip suppliers, IBM Corp. and Motorola Corp. spinoff Freescale Semiconductor Inc., failed to meet its needs for speed and efficiency.
