Regarding #10, I hear Hector has already found a new job:

http://www.hector.ac.uk/

10. So the CEO has to pay for the engineering dept.'s inadequacies?

3. I wouldn't bet any amount of money on it.

"Apple to use AMD"
That made me laugh :)

" Finally she tells him: ‘Go get a job with some publicity-hungry startup, wouldja Scottie.’" Sound AddVice from a ViXXXXen in Deed, indeed.

Now that would be Great News for All Men and Women.:-)

What Scottie Needs is a Proxy Virtualisation Driver for that is what is Missing in ITs Fields..... hence the NEUKlearer HyperRadioProActivity Total Information Awareness Protocols if Defensive Rules are Needed.

The last time Apple dealt with Hector Ruiz, he had set Motorola's CPU department on a course of mediocrity. He felt Cell Phones and communications ICs were the way to go. Apple as a result was stuck with 500MHz for two years... really at 450MHz for one year... ironically enough the 500MHz chip was delayed due to none other than an L2 cache issue. Seeing as AMD is behind, Hector Ruiz is in charge, Intel is coming out with it's new architecture in 2009 that will equal AMD's Hyper Transport in scalability, and that Apple doesn't seem to really care about the > 2 socket server market..... why would they bother?

8. Apple debuts 3G Iphone 
This one will be interesting when it hits...

I just upgraded from a GPRS-only HTC-Phone/PDA to a brand new (TyTN2) 3G/HSDPA version and i'm blown away by the speed, 200k/sec download over a mobile network is incredible, faster than my first broadband line...

Apple will have to be careful, they can release old technology once, but it'll catch up with them if they do it gain...

of course, the dickens line is priceless, one of many great ones from that book. and you totally had me, right up until Apple uses AMD. I could see some extremely limited use for AMD stuff, possibly if AMD actually makes good on those low power claims for the phenom. But never in the laptops, where Apple needs all the big brands behind it so that it can be seen as a realistic choice for the average consumer. 

Personally, i doubt ipods can get too much thinner and sexier, which means a diminishing halo effect; hence the iphone, and hence their other moves into mobile territory. Besides halos from various sexy mobile products, major brand backing and well known components are going to be key to apple breaking the 10% market share barrier for desktops and laptops. 

Long story short, Apple likes to appear edgy and sexy, but their marketing strategy is anything but; they have the ball rolling better than they ever have, so they're looking to keep it rolling in predictable and controllable ways, not by spooking their partners or trying to push bold new technologies. Ultra portables yes, new chip suppliers, doubtful.