radical Briefing 0033: The Glide Slope Theory of Innovation
Earlier this week Apple introduced their own microprocessors for its line of desktop and laptop computers. Many industry observers consider this not only yet another bold move from Apple — one which will further differentiate the Cupertino-based company from their competitors and allow Apple to extend their deep vertical integration — but also a repeat of Apple’s move from IBM/Motorola PowerPC CPUs to Intel-based ones in the early 2000s. A move which, at the time, further cemented Intel’s position in the market and effectively killed the PowerPC-line of CPUs for the end-user market.
In many ways this move is also the development of a weak signal which became stronger and stronger over time (see our radical Briefing #0025 on “Sorting Strong Trends from Weak Signals”). Apple started developing and using their own chips first in their iPhone-line of devices, grew their functionality (and therefore replacing more and more 3rd party circuits) and slowly started using custom silicon in other…