John Markoff adds to the coverage on the industry realignment. What comes through here is that circumstances are forcing this change on Apple. This isn't Steve Jobs, cooking up some grand vision of an Apple dominated world. This is about Paul Otellini manuevering now so he can still make his quarterly numbers in three years.

This is not about Apple. This is about establishing the structure of one of the major growth industries for the next decade. Based on the other parties' refusal to comment to the media, it seems they've decided to let Apple spin this as a Macintosh thing, at least for now. But make no mistake; this story is not about notebook computers. This is about the whole post-print, post-cinema, post-broadcast, by-subscription media landascpe.

"This is a seismic shift in the world of personal computing and consumer electronics. It is bound to rock the industry, but it will also be a phenomenal engineering challenge for Apple."

It is likely that Intel forged the alliance with Apple in an effort to counter the powerful home entertainment and game systems coming from Microsoft and Sony.

Markoff makes no mention of the QuickTransit product that was mentioned in the Wired News story.

Apple Plans to Switch From IBM to Intel for Chips