So the WWDC rumor mill just went into turbo-super-maximum overdrive.

CNET: Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips

Yeah, CNET is supposed to be pretty legit, as these things go. As would be expected, the MacRumors forums are abuzz, most interesting speculation is that Intel starts making a PPC-style CPU.

An ironic point, if true: Apple will be running on Intel. Microsoft will be running on IBM G5s. (OK, a sorta G5-ish tri-core CPU)

Not sure what to make of any of this. Mac-Intel rumors have been around forever. The technology isn’t really an issue, between OSX’s hardware abstraction and Apple’s excellent development tools, most apps should be able to migrate in a reasonable amount of time. The bigger problem is inventory and future sales. Who’s going to buy a dead-end computer? If everyone knows they’re switching chips (and if they do announce this, everyone will know), the hit on existing inventory and interim sales would be astronomical. If this is true, I hope they have a lot of cash in the bank.

How would the market react? Bump Apple up huge on the news until calmer heads point out the sales hit? Shares fall immediately based on the sales hit but recover to higher levels after a few months? Apple got hammered on Friday because of rumors of too much inventory, I really need to find a way to get quotes on my phone via SMS.
Whatever happens, I’m getting really psyched for the keynote.