Wow, remember those crazy days when we all used to hang on every little shred of news we could find about Motorola? Back when the G4 was the heavy hitter in Apple's processor line-up, sales of high-margin Power Macs lived and died-- mostly died-- by the development progress and delivery dates of Motorola's chipmaking division. You may well have worked hard to repress all memory of those years, but allow us to reopen a few ragged wounds by reminding you of the infamous G4 Speed Dump, when Apple was forced to lower processor speeds in its Power Mac line to accommodate Motorola's inability to meet demand. Or the AAPL-scuttling earnings warning Apple issued when missing Motorola chips nuked sales forecasts. Or the way we sat around for a year or two waiting for what turned out to be a measly 50 MHz speed increase. Or, more recently, how the PowerBook line stood stagnant for eons while Apple awaited a Motorolan chip shipment that eventually showed up about a decade late.

Fun times, hmmmm?

Well, these days, everyone's a lot more focused on IBM and the G5, despite the fact that Apple still needs G4s for four out of five of its Mac lines. Why? Because the G5 is the future while, the majority of Mac tech specs notwithstanding, the G4 is increasingly turning into ancient history we can all thankfully forget. Doesn't it just figure, then, that now Motorola decides to spin off its semiconductor business into an independent business that might finally have room to move and grow? Faithful viewer David Poves notes that, according to The Register, the new company will officially call itself Freescale when it breaks free of Motorola proper this spring. Why Freescale, you ask? According to the firm, the name "was chosen to reflect a new focus for the semiconductor company. We've created a name that's intended to identify our team's dedication to agility, service, and reliability."

Oooookay, well, we don't exactly see how "agility, service, and reliability" somehow spring forth from the name "Freescale," and the company's focus is reportedly going to be making semiconductors for the "embedded and communications markets," which sounds like exactly the same focus to us (which is why Apple got screwed repeatedly as it tried to squeeze Motorola for desktop processors), but whatever. If there's the slightest chance that Apple might wind up with a slightly easier time getting hold of G4s for its iMacs, eMacs, iBooks, and PowerBooks, we're all on board and waving cute little "Freescale" pennants-- at least, until Apple finally migrates its entire product line to IBM chips.

Mind you, we're not talking about Apple slapping G5s into $999 iBooks anytime soon, but you might recall rumors of IBM-produced, Altivecked G3s that are actually more powerful than any G4 Motorola has been able to crank out. Between those and the G5s, Apple could theoretically communicate to Motorola-- er, Freescale-- that it can take its processors for the "embedded and communications markets" and embed them where the sun doesn't shine. How's that for a cheery thought to make up for the litany of past nightmares we foisted upon your fragile psyche a few paragraphs back?

Oh, and hey, it gets even better: the move of Apple's G4-based Macs to honest-to-goodness G5 chips may happen sooner than many of us expected. Everyone knows that Apple hopes to have a PowerBook G5 ready by the end of the year (and questionable reports of an unveiling as early as "spring" are still making the rounds), but what about the consumer side of the coin? Well, don't forget that rumors of a 20th-birthday iMac Special Edition with a G5 thumping away in its frosty white dome were pretty trendy leading up to January 24th. Sure, they all turned out to be wrong, but just because the iMac G5 didn't arrive on the Mac's birthday doesn't mean it isn't coming soon. In fact, we're getting increasingly excited about the possibility that the "something huge" coming in April which we mentioned a week or two back might in fact turn out to be the G5ing of the iMac line. Fingers crossed!