Apple has been the #2 (OS) guy for the past what.... 10-15 years? I personally see them trying to fight for that spot as hard as they can for as long as they can.(until it becomes painfully obvious/futile that the spot is permanently out of reach)
There are other reasons as well. IBM has put favor into making triple core processors for the Xbox while ignoring apple, and there could also be other reasons that we won't know about until much later that are happening behind the scenes in the smoke filled rooms at Apple's and Intel's headquarters.(respectively)
Oh, and I personally think that the most likely prospect is Intel in the mini, imac, and ibook respectively, while the powerbook and (grandaddy)Mac still have PPC under the hood.
I hate to say this, but programs ultimately have to be compiled for a specific processor. Emulation is possible if you don't have any competitors breathing down your neck in the performance area.
They will also be running windows soon as their operatings system. LOL
I agree, and wish Apple and all other long time US software vendors feeling the squeeze all the luck in the world.
THis is hardly confirmation.. it is another echo of a single report from CNET News.com. Every other story, MacWorld, Wall Street Journal, Rueters, etc., is merely a re-hash of the original story from News.com.
I don't understand Intel, unless they're just looking at the Pentium M for the mini. For anything requiring performance, you'd think they'd go for the lower-power, better-architected, faster AMD Opteron.
Another aspect of all this that no one seems to have noted is that Intel is a neighbor in Santa Clara. Might just make them easier to deal with.