Former Apple Exec: PC is ‘In Its Twilight’

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It is quickly becoming clear that the end of the PC-era is approaching as consumers rapidly adopt mobile alternatives, such as the Apple iPhone and iPad. Intel, which powered many PCs, could be left in the dust, warns a former Apple executive. “Now that the PC market is in its twilight, with mobile devices proliferating and stealing growth from the PC, surely Intel has got to get into the race,” writes Jean-Louis Gassée, a former Apple executive now with venture-capital firm Allegis Capital.

Gassée, who headed Apple Macintosh development in the 1980s under then-CEO John Sculley, writing in his blog “Monday Note”, slammed the chip giant for its “complete absence from the mobile scene. Not a single smartphone contains an x86 processor.”

The former Apple executive is not alone in his opinion. Monday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gus Richard suggested Intel’s declining future could be revived if its mobile Atom processor core was adopted by Apple. “In our view, Intel would pick up Apple’s volume, driving revenue growth at good (not great) gross margin,” he told investors.

Although such a move could save Intel from a questionable future, it may be more of a rear-guard action. Tablet makers appear happy with the zippier ARM chipset, plus Apple reportedly may include the chips in its line of MacBooks soon.

[CNET]

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