Regarding the so-called "Megahertz Gap," does everybody remember Steve's exact words when he stumbled through his prepared written statement during that exceedingly uncomfortable earnings conference call last week? He said Apple has been "working closely with Motorola" to resolve the problem-- which we personally interpret to mean that Apple has kidnapped several children of Motorola higher-ups and is holding them at knifepoint until the chip-maker digs us all out of this 500 MHz hole in which we've been dwelling since about the Paleolithic Age. While generally we would frown upon such drastic measures, hey, sometimes you just have to grab the bull by the horns, right?

Now, Steve was misquoted all over the place as having said that Apple would close the Megahertz Gap within six months. If you go back and listen, he didn't say that at all. What he said was, and we quote, he and his minions "plan to offer Power Mac G4s with higher megahertz processors in the next six months," and "to begin closing the megahertz gap during the first half of 2001." Moreover, they expect "to make substantial progress during the remainder of the year." In other words, Apple has no plans to catch all the way up to the Intel/AMD frontrunners even by the end of next year. Most of you already knew this, because you live in this world, instead of in some glorious fantasy land in which the rivers run with chocolate and Motorola doesn't actually have its collective head up its... well, you get the picture.

So please, no more pipe dreams about the G4 overtaking Intel clock speeds by next summer, because barring divine intervention and a few strategically-deployed nuclear weapons, it just ain't gonna happen. Instead, we as a community should be thinking about baby steps out of this massive pit in which we dwell. So let's focus on that bit about faster Power Macs within six months, shall we? The best time to unveil these beasts would obviously be Macworld Expo in January, and to expect more than a modest boost-- say, to 600 MHz-- from Motorola is like expecting a common hamster to solve differential equations; it just leads to disappointment, and confused hamsters.

So will we have a G4/600 by January 9th? Maybe, maybe not... but after reading Mac OS Rumors, our endearingly pessimistic selves are marginally leaning towards "not." If you believe the rumors, Motorola has managed to produce "saleable yields" of 550 MHz and 600 MHz chips, but not saleable enough for Apple to feel comfortable announcing products that use them. Apple's tentative plan is reportedly to ship products that rely upon Motorola's new chips, such as Steve's promised faster Power Macs and the long-awaited PowerBook G4, at the Expo-- but despite "very intense meetings" between Motorola and Apple (at which we imagine Apple execs are showing photos of their hostages dangling above a big shark tank), the outlook for a January release still isn't etched in stone. The waiting game continues...