Linked by David W. Kuhn on Fri 10th Jun 2005 16:34 UTC
Was it Palol Rossetti that one said, "People in glass house shouldn't throw stones?" Push away the Intel this, the Pentium-M that, or perhaps the ability to use the Dual Core Pentium 4, Apple has a much bigger challenge ahead of them. For years, they have been throwing down the MHz myth and now? They are sleeping with the "enemy" according to PowerPC zealots. 
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I think this is an oversimplification. Do I wish that apple was sticking with PPC? Yes. Do I think that PPC os a cleaner platform? Sure. But that's not the point. This is simply all or nothing thinking. The G5 page says that the G5 kills the P4- and yes it is marketing hype. The G5 holds its own against the P4. The PPC in generaly has held its own against intel chips, pulling ahead only when a new rev was released (and falling behind when intel did the same).
What this switch is about is where PPC is going. Take a look at the size of the G5 case and the number of fans it requires and you have your answer. Jobs never said that the intel architecture is superior to PPC (and I'd have to think that anyone who's into chip design has to think PPC is a better design). What they said quite simply is that IBM's roadmap doesn't match their own and that intel's does. I have to imagine from a purely business perspective that's the truth- why else would they crap our corn flakes?
What lies ahead though will be a very real marketing challenge for apple. The knee jerk, over simplified reaction is to assume that apple will tout the new intel cpu as they did the PPC. We haven't seen any evidence of that just yet and if anything the tenor of the WWDC keynote suggests that they're going to cocentrate on the whole product rather than a part.
How are they going to sell this? We still don't know the answer as the campaign hasn't even begun. My guess is that we will not see an about face on intel vs. ppc or that apple will draw a lot of attention to the fact that there's even an intel in the box (I could be wrong though). I expect apple to push the next machines strictly on features. Your basic benchmarks, perhaps the mghz rating, battery life, and the same sleek design as ever.
The question I have is what are they going to call the new machines? The PPC has been a part of the marketing message- "PowerMac G4", "PowerMac G5". I doubt we'll see a "PowerBook Pentium" or that we'll even see intel mentioned on the case. We'll find out how they're going to spin these new boxes in a year.