Cringley Sees Intel Buying Apple As The Gameplan!!

Bob Cringley writes, For Apple to consider a processor switch, moving to IBM’s Cell Processor would have made much more sense than going to Intel or AMD, so the decision the announcement to use Intel platform several months later could be about BIG business. Two factors drive this :Microsoft’s strained relationship with Intel on the patronage of AMD & also from Intel's standpoint Microsoft doesn't work hard enough to challenge its hardware. Microsoft's bloatware strategy just isn't making new PC’s to be sold & the issue gets more serious with the delay in shipping Longhorn.Enter Apple - it is about Intel taking back control of the desktop from Microsoft. Intel does not see innovation coming from Microsoft ,which is a use for more processing power. And when they did have one with the Xbox, they went elsewhere.
So Intel buys Apple and works with their OEMs to get products out in the market. The OEMs would love to be able to offer a higher margin product with better reliability than Microsoft. Intel/Apple enters the market just as Microsoft further delays Longhorn. This scenario works well for everyone except Microsoft. If Intel was able to own the Mac OS and make it available to all the OEMs, it could break the back of Microsoft. And if they tuned the OS to take advantage of unique features that only Intel had, they would put AMD back in the box, too. Apple could return Intel to its traditional role of being where all the value was in the PC world. And Apple/Intel could easily extend this to the consumer electronics world. How much would it cost Intel to buy Apple? Not much. That's the story that Cringley finds it unfolding. Steve Jobs finally beats Bill Gates. And with the sale of Apple to Intel, Steve accepts the position of CEO of the Pixar/Disney/Sony Media Company. This looks too logical but so many pieces need to coe together and news is that Apple had been working to make the switch happen for longtime. If this were to happen, I guees the actual anoouncement could have preceded the speculation, though extremeley articulated well as a sensible move.