This morning’s Observer column about the implications of Apple’s new processor. Excerpt:

More troubling for Apple is the prospect that its operating system and applications software can now run natively on (much cheaper) PC hardware. The company is set against this, but already programmers have hacked it and it is difficult to see how Apple could stop the practice. If it catches on, Apple might see sales of its computers decline as those who admire Apple software but dislike its hardware prices get the best of both worlds.

If Apple is ambivalent about the future, you should see Intel’s smouldering fury as the implications of the launch dawned on it. Not only did Jobs decline to go along with the ‘Intel inside’ mantra embossed on most Windows machines, he authorised a television ad that left the company’s executives speechless.

‘The Intel chip’, it burbles. ‘For years, it’s been trapped inside PCs, inside dull little boxes, dutifully performing dull little tasks, when it could have been doing so much more. Starting today, the Intel chip will be set free and get to live life inside a Mac. Imagine the possibilities.’

How do you spell ‘chutzpah’ again?