The Intel DTK: how Apple managed the Mac’s transition from PowerPC to x86

Here are some facts and numbers, all with linked sources, regarding Apple’s historic 2005-2006 transition of the Macintosh platform from PowerPC chips to Intel’s x86.

First of all let’s talk about money.
Developers interested in Apple’s Intel DTK (Developer Transition Kit) had to pay 999 USD.

The DTK was meant for developers who were registered to ADC (Apple Developer Connection) who had paid the annual fee. There were three tiers and the lowest one couldn’t request a DTK.

As you can read in CNET’s transcription of the 2005 WWDC Keynote, Steve Jobs stated the prerequisite during his announcement of the switch to Intel, and specified that the “kits”, which were powered by Pentium 4 CPUs, were

“for Select and Premier ADC members only”

According to Macworld, in 2005 the fees for the Select and Premier tiers, which included additional benefits such as hardware discounts, were 499 USD and 3499 USD, respectively.

In 2010 Apple has simplified its offer, leaving only one “Mac Developer Account” tier at 99 USD, mimicking its iPhone developer program. Later on, the two developer programs were unified, as was the annual fee.

Getting back to 2005, the minimum expense to get one’s hands on the new, Intel-based, generation of Macs, was 1498 USD.

DTK Exchange Program banner

According to AppleInsider* the following year, in 2006, when asking for the return of the DTKs, Apple didn’t offer any voucher or discount, but surprised the participating developers offering to send them a brand new Intel iMac:

“Each Developer Transition Kit you have may be exchanged for a new Intel-based iMac at no charge.”

Finally, according to AppleInsider (but not to pundit John Gruber), in the DTK-iMac exchange the Cupertino business opted for a small but commendable act of kindness towards its developers:

“Apple also said it will provide developers with the iMac prior to them returning the DTK to allow them time to move resources from the DTK to the iMac.”

* Note: Unfortunately the sentence AppleInsider quoted cannot be directly verified on the Apple website, since Internet Archive has saved a copy of the page only several months after the DTK-iMac exchange program expired.

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2 Comments

  1. Small typo on this page: “minum” instead of “minimum”

    Getting back to 2005, the minum expense to get one’s hands

  2. Nicola D'Agostino

    Thanks.

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