New Intel Chips - Apple's Ace in the Hole?

So Intel this week announced an entirely new line of chips, due in the 2nd half of 2006. Completely new architecture, 64-bit, super low-power chips across notebooks, desktops, servers and a new device Intel calls a "handtop". Now I'm not usually much for conjecturing or rumoring on what Apple's doing next, but there's just a few too many things adding up lately to keep my gears from grinding on all this. Read on to see where I'm going with this, and feel free to weigh in and let me know if I should lay off the sauce.

First on my list of Apple news musings: when Apple announced the switch, they didn't specify which chips – it was just a shaking of hands with Intel and a pink slip for IBM. Second, there was a bit of an initial outcry since, at the time, Intel didn't really have 64-bit mobile chips like AMD has, let alone dual cores. Third, Engadget reported this week that Apple's on the lookout for a handwriting recognition engineer – remember C.K.'s Palmtop post back in March,
anyone? Last but not least: Intel's announcement of new chips for
"handtops", and the fact that Intel is a complete one-stop-shop for just about every chip Apple could need for any device they can conceive.

Now you can't tell me all this doesn't get your 'what's coming next' blood pumping. iPalm? Newton 2? An OSX Tablet? These aren't "reliable sources" or "leaked tidbits" – these are cold hard facts that I really think are leading to something big (or small -
really small) on the horizon, and I think it just might have a glowing Apple logo on it. What do you think?