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…