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Copycat Syndrome Epidemic (3/9/01)
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Okay, Dell wants to be like Apple; that we can understand. But greater-than-expected G4 production aside, why would anybody want to be like Motorola? Not that we aren't big fans of the company's processors, but let's face it: Motorola has seen better days. In January the company eliminated 2500 jobs. In February it trimmed 4000 more. A week ago, hot on the heels of announcing that it might post its first quarterly loss in fifteen years, Motorola instituted a mandatory vacation use "austerity measure" to cut costs still further. And just a few days ago, a court ruling opened the company up to a lawsuit that might wind up costing it billions of dollars. Clearly this is not behavior that most companies would aspire to emulate.
Nevertheless, just as Mike Dell has a thing for being like Steve Jobs, Intel seems to be trying to follow in Motorola's footsteps. Faithful viewer Wayne Parkhurst informs us that good ol' Chipzilla is slashing some 5000 jobs. TheStreet.com says it's because of "the spreading ills of the economic slowdown," but it's clear to us that Intel is just trying its darnedest to play follow-the-leader with Motorola. Don't let all that stuff about an ailing economy fool you; for some sick, twisted reason, Intel's obviously out to remake itself anew in Motorola's image.
Don't believe us? Well, that's your prerogative, of course, but don't act surprised when Intel starts making mobile phones and pagers, stops advertising its processors on television, stays stuck at 1.5 GHz for over a year, and eventually needs AMD's help to crank out enough chips to satisfy Dell's demand. Don't worry; we'll be right here to say "we told you so."
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SceneLink (2915)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/9/01 episode: March 9, 2001: Apple introduces a second 733 MHz Power Mac G4 configuration due to-- get this-- greater-than-expected supplies of the chip from Motorola. Meanwhile, iTunes and iMovie might just make it to Mac OS X-ready status in time for the operating system's release (but the analysts are still harping on the lack of DVD compatibility), and Intel follows in Motorola's footsteps by issuing an earnings warning and cutting five thousand jobs...
Other scenes from that episode: 2913: Go On, Pull The Other One (3/9/01) It all started as a seemingly innocuous press release; faithful viewer Joe Valentino tipped us off to the fact that Apple has seen fit to add a new configuration to its Power Mac G4 line-up. Itching for a Mac packing the finest G4 Motorola has to offer?... 2914: The All-Or-Nothing Mindset (3/9/01) These are magical times in the world of Apple, indeed; the whole world is oohing and aahing over the svelte new PowerBook G4, Apple is reporting that high-speed G4 processors are more plentiful than expected, and a whole slew of spiffy new commercials touting the digital music capabilities of the new Macs are in heavy rotation on the tube...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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