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Apple launches its own A4 processor

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You would be excused for missing it in the midst of the Apple iPad fanfare, but as well as a new gadget Apple are also releasing their own proprietary CPU.
The Apple iPad, Steve Jobs announced, will be powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 processor. This is a brand new processor, and is the first ever Apple-branded processor.

Pundits suspected this might be coming after Apple's relatively recent acquisition of the PA Semiconductor company.

The 1GHz frequency may sound trifling by modern desktop standards but it is beefy when compared to the mobile CPU range. Google's own Nexus One smartphone is similarly powered by a 1GHz processor.

According to Jobs, the A4 is able to decode high-def video for 10 hours on a single battery charge, giving it a rare mix of both grunt and low power consumption.

A computer manufacturer owning its own semiconductor company is not a new phenomenon. The eventually ill-fated Commodore Business Machines (CBM) made the smart move of purchasing MOS Semiconductor back in the early 1980's giving it ownership of the 6502 family of microprocessors.

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David M Williams

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David has been computing since 1984 where he instantly gravitated to the family Commodore 64. He completed a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from 1990 to 1992, commencing full-time employment as a systems analyst at the end of that year. Within two years, he returned to his alma mater, the University of Newcastle, as a UNIX systems manager. This was a crucial time for UNIX at the University with the advent of the World-Wide-Web and the decline of VMS. David moved on to a brief stint in consulting, before returning to the University as IT Manager in 1998. In 2001, he joined an international software company as Asia-Pacific troubleshooter, specialising in AIX, HP/UX, Solaris and database systems. Settling down in Newcastle, David then found niche roles delivering hard-core tech to the recruitment industry and presently is the Chief Information Officer for a national resources company where he particularly specialises in mergers and acquisitions and enterprise applications.

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