Rob Enderle, who's probably best known for spouting unconvincing opinions about Apple and Microsoft, is now arguing that the Apple-Intel relationship is going to be rocky in 2006. For once, I think he's right.
I've spoken to Enderle and he clearly knows what he's talking about: it's just his conclusions that are frequently the problem. Here, however, he's spot on.
Apple is notoriously bad at dealing with partners: its resellers frequently get a kicking and have to suffer competition from Apple Stores while simultaneously dealing with high wholesale prices that make it impossible to offer significantly cheaper prices; equally, high-profile partnerships such as those with IBM (G5 chips and Via Voice), Motorola (G4 chips/ROKR phones) and Sony-Ericsson have all been truly badly handled.
Intel has been equally inept and arrogant. So the only chance of a smooth relationship being carved out between the two is if they both realise they're never going to be able to push each other around. I hold out little hope of that happening.
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