The Papermaster chronicles: An Apple vs. IBM timeline

Not too many people know that Apple worked very closely with ARM well before they became the de facto embedded mobile core. Apple was instrumental to the development of the ARM 6 core, the precurser to the lower powered and far cheaper ARM 7 TDMI that really put ARM on the map. If steve had been CEO at the time, you better believe he would have bought ARM. Alas, ARM is now entirely untouchable: any company trying to buy them would be hit by a hundred lawsuits before they could blink.

This probably keeps Steve Jobs up at night. Apple could have been the Commodore of mobile computing. Commodore back in the day acquired MOS, the makers of the famous 6502 microprocessor that was used in the commodore 64, the Apple 2 and even the NES. This vertical integration gave Commodore a nearly insurmountable competitive advantage, which they famously squandered through incompetence. Apple could have had a similarly desirable position, but with better men at the helm.

But failure breeds motivation. Apple is now assembling a juggernaut of microprocessor design talent. First PA Semi, now Papermaster. They will be making a big move very soon, possibly as soon as next year, when the 3rd iphone launches. 2009 will be a huge year for mobile microprocessors as it is. ARMs Cortex A8 will finally be shipping in mainstream products, as will Power VRs SGX graphics core. It would be quite the coup if Apples next iphone had a custom ARM A8+SGX core designed by their PA semi acquisition. Apple is putting themselves into an unassailable position, not just with software and the app store, but now with hardware as well. They are making this look easy.

How can you be held under a contract after your employment is terminated ? A company can’t have it both ways - if they want you to work for them, they pay you. If they don’t pay you, you can work for someone else ! Who that ’someone else’ is, that should be entirely your own decision - anything else is a violation of your human rights.

Land of the free, my arse !

Non-competes are very difficult to enforce. IBM will have to PROVE that Papermaster is working on projects directly related to his previous position as a PowerPC chip architect at IBM. Given that he will be leading the iPod and iPhone division, it will be impossible for IBM to have the non-compete enforced. Now, had Papermaster immediately started as the head of the PA Semi division of Apple, then there might be merit.

However, with California being a right-to-work state, IBM will have to PROVE substantial financial harm caused by Papermaster’s employment by Apple.

Non-compete agreements are rarely upheld in court in this type of scenario. Even a company with IBM’s broad scope and scale would be hard pressed to prove that Apple is 1) a significant competitor, especially in the area of consumer devices and 2) losing IP and / or trade secrets from Papermaster’s departure as the “residuals” - the IP in Papermaster’s head - is exempt from any kind of legal action now and in the future. I predict that this lawsuit will delay but not prevent Papermaster joining Apple.

Funny to see Big ol’ IBM afraid of little ol’ Apple!

Tom B., look closer: The suit was filed in Federal court.

Non-competes are unenforce and I doubt an injunction from a NY judge would carry any water in California. But I’m not a lawyer…..

Apple has $25 Billion in the bank… You bet IBM cares! Apple could steal a lot of talent with that kind of cash.

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/11/03/three-disruptions-in-technology-and-how-to-benefit/

paul said “where have you been the last 2 years. they are up in the 20’s now or close to it.” On what planet? Dude, you gotta put down the pipe! Apple owns just under 10% of the PC market as of October. Here’s my source: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/10/16/apple-continues-to-outperform-the-overall-pc-market-tops-9

They may only have 3% of the market but don’t forget they have $25 Billion in the bank and growing… This is not the Apple of yesteryear.

i can only imagine this situation will make it more difficult or IBM to hire top talent. who would want to go to IBM if they knew that they wouldn’t be allowed to make a living for a year if things didn’t work out.

less than 3% of the pc market!? where have you been the last 2 years. they are up in the 20’s now or close to it. expect to see great things from apple once papermaster gets to his real job at apple, overseeing the P.A. Semi aquisition.

With less than 3% of the PC market who cares about apple?

Fascinating. this article, itself shows that Apple is not a competitor, but that it can become a competitor:

“that Papermaster’s position as head of the iPod and iPhone division is a subterfuge, a “placeholder” until his noncompete year is up and he can take the job for which he was really hired: “to lead Apple’s PA Semi acquisition and create a new family of scalable processors optimized for Snow Leopard and beyond.””

Since when do noncompete clauses include companies that may become competitors.

Way to go Steve! Lets pick up the papermaster as soon as possible at least within the year. I sense Apple is on the right track with things, keep up the great work and the fantastic ideas and the well integrated solutions coming.

@rd4sndk

It was the Yale dean, not Harvard president.

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2008/10/23.6.shtml

http://www.notebooks.com/2008/11/07/my-apple-curse-strikes-again-but-apple-store-saves-the-day/

Having used Mac OS X series and closely watched Apple’s move in operating system market for five years, I can clearly see that Apple’s going towards the server market. When Apple released Leopard in October 2007, it really emphasized on Leopard Server’s features and strengths by saying it is “easy to use … and embedded Unix system.”

Apple knows that server market is very profitable, so there’s no doubt Apple is trying to take some share in there. Currently, however, Apple’s server technology is lagging much behind that of IBM and Microsoft. The easiest way to catch up their technologies is to entice their top experts to work at Apple, which Apple has been doing in past two years.

CA is a right to work state and does not enforce non-competes.

I can’t amagine Apple taking on IBM and Intel in the processor wars. It’s more plausible that Apple sees the future in mobile computing where volumes and market growth is greatest. The competition for mobile computers is limited and less risky than PCs. I can see Apple leapfrogging the world in developing a mobile computer that’s much more power efficient and delivers approximate PC performance. The numbers for this computer are in the 100’s of millions at tens of dollars each. Servers and laptop numbers are in the 10’s of millions at 3 to 4 times that of mobile.

Its no coincidence that Apple just hired Havard Presendent and now Papermasters. These two signify that Apple is looking to present to universities a compelling means for teaching, learning and communicating. What’s at stake, digital books, digital lectures and digitizing all forms of presentations, development and discussions. All of which whose content can be placed on itunes or the apps store.

While the world is worrying about gaming markets, laptops and the PC evolution, Apple is building a new computer paradigm for the 21 century.