One factoid is a pattern? These analysts are getting better by the minute.

Apple held Intel over the heads of IBM and Motorola. Finally, Apple played the Intel card. No one will every know how many dollars in concessions Apple wrung out of its PPC suppliers before jumping to Intel.

PA Semi's technology may simply be a bargaining chip to ward off the predations of Intel by providing Apple with leverage (against Intel) that other PC makers do not have.

Intel has committed vast resources toward the development of energy-efficient portable devices, and around 2010 plans to begin to compete in the phone market too. Intel has been willing to work with Apple precisely because Apple fits in so well with Intel's strategy of dominating portable devices as completely as it dominates in the PC world, where, by the way, it is crushing AMD.

In any case, one might consider that PA Semi's technology may also be(come) a carrot Apple holds out to Intel -- in exchange for some yet-to-be-determined concessions from Intel. Intel is a beast (which is why I own some shares), but it cannot be all things to all customers, particularly Apple, which has built its franchise by differentiating itself in the market from commodity players.

In other words, the relevant questions may well be -- Does PA Semi's know-how offer Apple entree into markets or products not served by Intel? Or does PA Semi's technology offer something Apple can bring to the table with Intel in order to create (Intel/PA-Inside) products that commodity-based competitors cannot easily match?

In short, my guess is that PA Semi will serve a dual purpose -- to be used by Apply against Intel, and simultaneously used by Apple in cooperation with Intel against Apple's competitors.

As a bargaining chip in co-optition with Intel, PA Semi may prove to be a great bargain, even if no products ever flow from it.

"Intel has committed vast resources toward the development of energy-efficient portable devices, and around 2010 plans to begin to compete in the phone market too."


Too funny. What you are missing here is that Intel bought the StrongArm Architecture from DEC (yes the same super fast and energy efficient designed by Dan Dobberpuhl while at DEC) and tried to make a go of it in the embedded/mobile arena for a few years. They gave up and sold it off a year or so ago. What makes you think they will magically figure out how to sell to the embedded systems space in another year. It is a far different sale than selling to PC manufacturers.