Apple will keep doing what it's doing, and most likely that means they hope Windows users will make the switch on their own. But they're not going to tear down what they've built to try to conquer the OS world.

Apple is very aware of what chips need to go in which machines and when. That's part of the reason they made the switch to Intel.

Apple is not looking at the chip for differentiation. It's counting on its hardware and software for that. If anything, it's taking the line of thinking that the chip inside makes little difference to the quality of the computing experience.

Apple is fairly consistent in terms of its cycle of early adopters followed by other loyal Mac users.

Apple is a hardware company - they build software to sell the hardware. The question really is, Why not support the installation of Windows on their computers?

Apple has accomplished this in music because it designs end-to-end and because they entered the market with a digital rights management-protected product (read: iPod) when no one else did. But it was a one-off, not to be repeated in television, personal video, mobile communications or photography.

It's a huge departure. It's a big deal. But it's tied to their business model: Apple is a hardware company.

Consumers don't really want to carry around more devices than they have to. Everyone has a mobile phone. To get music onto the phone is a big deal for the music industry. Why does Apple care? I think it's because they want to protect their turf. If they can't own the device, they can at least own the relationship. That's a big deal since Apple's the incumbent.