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[AB 101]

Yep. Either way, it's shitsville for Apple. Make a proprietary rig out of Intel CPU and forever remain below 5%, or go for all the hardware variation and have the headache of compatability and stability like MS does, negating all their stability advantage.

Too bad IBM doesn't care to play ball with Job's idle threats. IBM could care less with all the console chips they are making. :lol

Rumor has it that IBM will be losing money on these chips.

Edit:

And apparently, Intel bid and said it could not come close to meeting Microsofts price.

And Intel is pretty known for making chips fairly cheaply.

 

[Chittagong]

I bet that in case this news is true, Apple will require Intel to name their X86 variant made for Apple something completely different to emphasize that it's Think Different, and not those old, boring, hard-to-use PCs.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

Well it will be interesting to see the performance of apples OS on an X86-64 platform. Its about time to walk away from the PPC though because panther or tiger or whatever the heck it is doesnt work well with the lastest PPC. Just look at the latest 2.7ghz apple workstation getting reamed by the opteron, especially in server apps.

http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2436

either way macs should end up being cheaper meh.

 

[Laurent]

San Francisco - Live Coverage of Steve Jobs Keynote
1:00PM EDT, June 6th, 2005

[1:49 PM] There is a developer kit that includes a 3.6 GHx Pentium 4 Mac. They will have to be returned by the end of 2006. They will be priced at US$999, and please note that these are for developers only. - posted by Dave

[1:48 PM] He did not show us Intel-compiled apps running on a PPC Mac... - posted by Dave

[1:47 PM] He's demonstrating it with Quicken, Excel, Photoshop. All of these apps, compiled for PPC, worked fine on the Intel Mac demonstration, It was a completely transparent process. - posted by Dave

[1:46 PM] Apple is calling an emulation layer "Rosetta," after the Rosetta Stone. - posted by Dave

[1:46 PM] Rosetta will allow PowerPC compiled apps to work on an Intel Mac. It's completely transparent, and does not require a separate emulation environment. - posted by Dave

[1:43 PM] We're getting a demonstaration of Mathematica at work. It's quite impressive, of course, and it's working on an Intel Mac. - posted by Dave

[1:42 PM] According to Mr. Gray, it took two hours to do this port. "We're talking about 20 lines of code out of millions from a dead cold start where he didn't even know why he was going." - posted by Dave

[1:41 PM] Mr. Gray is joking about getting "the most crazy calls from Apple," where Steve asked him on Wednesday night to come out to Apple and port Mathematica, one of the most complex apps on the planet to Intel by Monday. - posted by Dave

[1:39 PM] Asked a long time developer (Theo Grey of Wolfram Research, the makers of Mathematica) to come out to Apple and work on Intel. - posted by Dave

[1:38 PM] Developers applauded Steve when he said that both processors would be supported for a long time to come, and the core to this will be universal binaries. - posted by Dave

[1:37 PM] In a chart, Coca apps had half the "tweak" time as Xcode, but Steve emphasized that it will be easy. - posted by Dave

[1:37 PM] "Cocoa apps: A few minor tweaks and a recompile, and it just works. Widgets, scripts, and JAva just work." Xcode will take a few more tweaks. - posted by Dave

[1:35 PM] Looking at the developer's apps now. Everyone is on the edge of their seat. - posted by Dave

[1:34 PM] Steve confirmed all this, BTW, by saying the rumors have been true about how Apple had an Intel project. - posted by Dave

[1:33 PM] Today's demonstration has been done entirely on an Intel Mac. Steve is showing us how everything works. - posted by Dave

[1:33 PM] Every project done at Apple has been mandated to work on PowerPC and Intel. - posted by Dave

[1:33 PM] "This has been going on for the last five years." Every release of OS X has been compiled and run on Intel processors. - posted by Dave

[1:32 PM] "Mac OS X has been leading a secret double life. There have been rumors to this effect...(laugh). We've had teams working on the just in case scenario." - posted by Dave

[1:32 PM] Said there are two challenges, which made the audience laugh. - posted by Dave

[1:30 PM] It will begin a Mac with Intel processors by June 6th, 2006, as reports said. It should be complete by June 2007. - posted by Dave

[1:30 PM] Says that Intel offers a better roadmap for the markets that Apple services. - posted by Dave

[1:29 PM] Why? Because we want to be making the best computers for our customers. - posted by Dave

[1:29 PM] He talked about IBM missing the 3 GHz mark for the G5, and in not being able to put one in a PowerBook. - posted by Dave

[1:27 PM] Moving on to "Transitions." This is clearly the Intel news we've been expecting. - posted by Dave

[1:26 PM] Tiger is up to 16% of the Mac OS X installed user base, with Panther still claiming half. That's impressive considering the 6 weeks that Tiger has been available. The next version of Mac OS X will be Leopard, and will be released late 2006 or early 2007. - posted by Dave

[1:25 PM] More than 400 Widgets have been released through Apple. This doesn't count ones that Apple isn't listing . - posted by Dave

[1:22 PM] Interestingly, Steve is showing us Dashboard Widgets. He chose an Amazon one to show us that returned at least one For Dummies book when he searched for Tiger that Steve has banned from his own Apple Stores. - posted by Dave

[1:21 PM] Apple has delivered (not "sold") 2 million copies of Tiger in 6 weeks, including retail and installed on Macs. Called it the most succesful version of Mac OS X yet. - posted by Dave

[1:20 PM] Showing us mainstream quotes from critics who love Tiger. - posted by Dave

[1:18 PM] Showed us a chart that shows Mac unit numbers growing over 40% year over year, far above the 12% in the PC world. The audience applauded. - posted by Dave

[1:17 PM] Showing us how the art for Podcasts for changed. The audicence loved it. - posted by Dave

[1:15 PM] Showing us how the new Podcasting features will look in iTunes. Demonstrated this by showing us how to subscribe to a Podcast listed by iTunes. - posted by Dave

[1:13 PM] CAlls Podcasting the "Hottest thing going on in radio." Says there are 8,000 Podcasts, and this number is growing, including podcasts from pros. - posted by Dave

[1:12 PM] iTMS market share is now 82% in May, up from earlier in the year. - posted by Dave

[1:12 PM] Steve claims 76% market share for iPod, clunting all players of all sorts. Just recently crossed 430 million iTMS downloads. - posted by Dave

[1:11 PM] Heading into iPod update. Steve noted that iPod is part of the culture, as evidenced by being on the cover of The New Yorker - posted by Dave

[1:10 PM] Steve says 1 million customers are coming in to Apple Stores every week. - posted by Dave

[1:08 PM] Getting things rolling here. A bit of technical glitch, but we're moving now.

3800 Developers from 45 countries. That includes 38 developers from China and 11 from India. - posted by Dave

[4:53 AM] SAN FRANCISCO -- The Mac Observer will be providing live coverage of today's World Wide Developer Conference keynote by Steve Jobs, barring any technical difficulties.

http://www.macobserver.com

 

[Laurent]

San Francisco - Live Coverage of Steve Jobs Keynote
1:00PM EDT, June 6th, 2005


[2:05 PM] That's it. They're done. Thanks for watching with us, folks. We appreciate it. Now head on over to TMO for the follow-up news and commentary. - posted by Dave

[2:05 PM] Says developers have to do one thing to make the transition a smooth one, and that's to "start making universal binaries now." - posted by Dave

[2:04 PM] Steve says that Apple has been through two transitions, and that the company is strong, and that the Mac platform is strong. - posted by Dave

[2:04 PM] He says that this third transition will allow Apple to continue to make the best computers for its customers. - posted by Dave

[2:02 PM] Mr. Otellini is being cheered as he leaves the stage. - posted by Dave

[2:01 PM] Paul Otellini called Apple "the most innovative computer company in the world." - posted by Dave

[2:00 PM] It's interesting to see the fact that either one of these guys is addressing this directly. - posted by Dave

[1:58 PM] Mr. Otellini is going over Intel's history, including Apple's famous Bunny add where Apple set fire to Intel's Bunny mascot. He even showed the commercial. - posted by Dave

[1:58 PM] Mr. Otellini is going over Intel's history. - posted by Dave

[1:58 PM] Steve said by way of introduction said that when they talked to Intel, they found that Intel was just as passionate about making great products as Apple. - posted by Dave

[1:57 PM] As TMO reported this morning, Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel, is here to talk about his company. - posted by Dave

[1:55 PM] He said that Adobe will be first to offer its complete line for Intel-based Macs. - posted by Dave

[1:55 PM] "I have only one question, Steve: What took you so long?" He said this with a laugh, and the audience applauded. - posted by Dave

[1:54 PM] "You can be absolutely assured that you will be able to run Adobe applications natively on Intel Macs." - posted by Dave

[1:53 PM] Bruce Chizen CEO of Adobe is on stage. He said that Adobe wouldn't exist if it weren't for Apple. - posted by Dave

[1:52 PM] Roz says that more Exchange features are coming for the Mac. This was met with scattered applause. - posted by Dave

[1:52 PM] Roz also said that Microsoft has been working with Apple on Xcode, and plans on having universal binaries of its products to support the fractured user base transparently. - posted by Dave

[1:51 PM] Roz Ho, the MBU General Manager at Microsoft is on stage talking about this transition. - posted by Dave

There...

 

[Laurent]

June 06, 2005 1:00 pm ET

WWDC 2005 Keynote Live Update
By Peter Cohen and Jason Snell

Our coverage of Steve Jobs' 2005 WWDC keynote has concluded. Please visit MacCentral's home page for the latest news from WWDC.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the keynote stage of this week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, Calif., wearing his customary black turtleneck.

"Good morning, thank you," Jobs said to the crowd, who greeted him with warm applause. "Today is an important day. We've got some great stuff for you today."

Big numbers

Jobs said that WWDC 2005 is the largest gathering in the last decade of Apple developers -- more than 3,800 attendees are present this week from 45 countries, including dozens from China and India. More than 500 Apple engineers have trekked into San Francisco this week to offer on-site help to those developers as well.

"The number that blows my mind, we've got more than half a million Developer Connection members. The development community at Apple is thriving," said Jobs.

Likewise, Apple's retail stores are pulling in impressive numbers, according to Jobs. With 109 stores open around the world, Apple is seeing more than 1 million visitors per week, he said, and has sold more than half a billion dollars in third-party products this past year.

"The iPod has really entered popular culture in America. You know that when you get on the cover of the New Yorker," Jobs said. By the end of its last fiscal quarter, Apple had sold a cumulative total of 16 million iPods, he added, and had 76 percent market share. "So we're thrilled with that."

What's more, Jobs said that Apple's iTunes Music Store has sold and had downloaded more than 430 million songs. "We've had a lot of competition, and what's happened? Our market share's gone up," said Jobs. "It's now 82 percent in the month of May."

Podcasting comes to iTunes

Jobs turned his focus to podcasting, which he described as "TiVo for radio" and "Wayne's World for radio." "We see it as the hottest thing going in radio." And as he had previously mentioned, Jobs said that iTunes will now support podcasting directly.

"We're building a podcast directory in the iTunes Music Store," he explained. Jobs demonstrated by navigating the itunes Music Store, clicking on a podcast link, which then displayed a directory of podcasts. Clicking on famed podcaster Adam Curry's name presented a hierarchical list of podcasts, and Jobs then subscribed and listened to a short segment.

"We're thinnk it's going to basically take podcasting mainstream, to where anyone can do it," said Jobs, who also noted that Apple would get into the game with its own "New Music Tuesdays" podcast.

Mac grows in leaps and bounds

Jobs also lauded the Mac's recent performance, compared to the rest of the computer industry. Apple has seen year over year growth in the Mac business unit for the past five quarters. "So last quarter, the Mac grew at over three times the rate of the rest of the industry," he told attendees.

Tiger has been a huge success, Jobs added. "I'm really pleased to report to you, that this week we will deliver, copies sold through retail, maintenance, and shipped on Macs, the two millionth copy of Tiger," said Jobs. "Remember, it's been about six weeks [since Tiger's release]. This is the most successful OS release ever."

Of the 2 million users of Tiger already represent 16 percent of Apple's entire Mac OS X user base. Forty-nine percent of Mac OS X users are running Panther, and 25 percent of Mac OS X users are still running Jaguar. The remainder are "laggards on early versions of Mac OS X," according to Jobs.

Leopard

Apple's next major operating system release will be called Leopard, said Jobs. "We're not going to be focusing on it today, but we intend to release Leopard at the end of 2006 or early 2007, right about the time Microsoft expects to release Longhorn," he said.

The rumors are true: Intel will be inside

Jobs talked about the major transitions in the Mac's life -- starting from the Mac's Motorola 68000-series processor to PowerPC. "The PowerPC set Apple up fro the next decade. It was a good move," he said.

"The second transition was even better -- the transition from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X that we just did," he continued. "This was a brain transplant. And even though these operating systems (9 and x) vary only by one in name, they are very different, and this has set Apple up for the next 20 years."

As the Intel logo lowered on the stage screen, Jobs said, "We are going to make the transition from PowerPC to Intel processors, and we are going to do it for you now, and for our customers next year. Why? Because we want to be making the best computer for our customers looking forward."

"I stood up here two years ago and promised you 3.0 GHz. I think a lot of you would like a G5 in your PowerBook, and we haven't been able to deliver that to you," said Jobs. "But as we look ahead, and though we've got great products now, and great PowerPC products still to come, we can envision great products we want to build, and we can't envision how to build them with the current PowerPC roadmap," said Jobs.

Intel processors provide more performance per watt than PowerPC processors do, said Jobs. "When we look at future roadmaps, mid-2006 and beyond, we see PoweRPC gives us 15 units of perfomance per watt, but Intel's roadmap gives us 70. And so this tells us what we have to do," he explained.

Transition to Intel by 2007, and yes, Marklar exists

"Starting next year, we will introduce Macs with Intel processors," said Jobs. "This time next year, we plan to ship Macs with Intel processors. In two years, our plan is that the transition will be mostly complete, and will be complete by end of 2007."

Jobs then confirmed a long-held belief that Apple was working on an Intel-compatible version of Mac OS X that some have termed "Marklar."

Mac OS X has been "leading a secret double life" for the past five years, said Jobs. "So today for the first time, I can confirm the rumors that every release of Mac OS X has been compiled for PowerPC and Intel. This has been going on for the last five years."

Jobs demonstrated a version of Mac OS X running on a 3.6GHz Pentium 4-processor equipped system, running a build of Mac OS X v10.4.1. He showed Dashboard widgets, Spotlight, iCal, Apple's Mail, Safari and iPhoto all working on the Intel-based system. The system itself was not revealed.

Apple needs developers' help to complete the transition

"We are very far along on this, but we're not done," said Jobs. "Which is why we're going to put it in your hands very soon, so you can help us finish it."

Widget, scripts and Java applications should work in the new environment without any conversion, said Jobs. Cocoa-based applications will require "a few minor tweaks and a recompile." Carbon-based applications require "a few more tweaks," recompiling, and "they'll work," said Jobs. And projects built using Metrowerks' CodeWarrior need to be moved to Xcode.

The future of Mac OS X development is moving to Xcode, said Jobs. Of Apple's top 100 developers, more than half -- 56 percent -- are already using Xcode, and 25 percent are in the process of switching to Xcode. "Less than 20 percent are not on board yet. Now is a good time to get on board," said Jobs.

A new build of Xcode, version 2.1, is being released today. This new release enables developers to specify PowerPC or Intel architectures. "... and you're going to build what's called a universal binary. It contains all the bits for both architectures," said Jobs. "One binary, works on both PowerPC and Intel architecture. So you can ship one CD that supports both processors."

"This is nothing like Carbonizing"

Many developers reading this news may be thinking that they'll have to go through the same woes they had to in order to get their Mac OS 9 applications "Carbonized" to run on Mac OS X. Jobs assured the crowd that this isn't like that at all. To demonstrated, he brought on stage Theo Gray, co founder of Mathematica maker Wolfram Research.

Gray said that Mathematica is encumbered by "ancient code that hasn't been changed since the Reagan administration," but despite that, it only took about two hours to get Mathematica's Mac OS X code running on an Intel-bsaed Mac. "We're talking about twenty lines of source code out of millions, from a dead cold start. This is nothing like Carbonizing. It's prety good when the biggest problem from your port is to figure out what to do with the rest of your weekend."

Rosetta keeps old apps running

Jobs also discussed a new technology called Rosetta, that he described as "a dynamic binary translator." It runs existing PowerPC applications on the Intel platform, he said. Jobs described Rosetta as "lightweight," and said "it's nothing like Classic."

Jobs demonstrated Rosetta by running Microsoft Office applications, Quicken and Photoshop CS 2 -- all unmodified PowerPC-binary versions, unlike Mathematica -- on the new Intel-based hardware.

"So that is Rosetta, Jobs concluded. "These PowerPC apps just run. And that's what we're going to have for our users, because every app isn't going to be there for our users on day one."

Big names pledge support

Microsoft's Roz Ho and Adobe's Bruce Chizen both took the stage to reaffirm their commitment to the Macintosh platform. Ho said that Microsoft has been "working with Apple for some time" to create future versions of Office using Apple's Xcode tools, and will create universal binaries accordingly." Chizen called Apple's decision to move to Intel "great," and gently chided Steve Jobs: "What took you so long?"

Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini was next on stage, greeted by Jobs with a warm embrace. "I expect there's a whole lot of people who'd never expect you'd see that logo on this stage," said Otellini, who launched into a story tracing the history of his company, founded in 1968, and Apple, founded in 1976 -- two high-tech firms that have blossomed over the decades in Silicon Valley.

Despite occasional jabs over the years, including Apple's infamous ad where they set fire to the Intel "Bunny Man," (an ad that was shown), Intel doesn't hold a grudge, said Otellini.

"I think this brings the skills and the opportunities and the engineering excellence of two great companies," said Otellini. "They combine our strengths and play on our respective strengths. Apple has legendary capability at hardware and sw design and innovation."

"Our strengths are different but entirely complementary. We're about architecture, about scale and scope, and what we are most about is the relentless advancement of Moore's Law to give you better and better machines every year. So after thirty years, Apple and Intel are together at last. I don't think of this as a fairy tale with a happy ending. I think of this as an exciting and important story with a very happy beginning," concluded Otellini, who then left the stage.

Last words from Jobs

"Apple is strong. And the Mac is strong. So this is a great time to start building for the future, to make us even stronger. We know transitions: We've been through two of them, and they've kept our platform at the forefront," said Jobs.

"And we'll continue to be bold and begin a third transition today ... to make the best machines we know how to make in the future. This transition isn't going to happen overnight. We're making awesome machines now, we've got a lot of great PowerPC products in the pipeline, but we are also working to design some Intel-based Macs, and when we're here next year we will have them in the marketplace. And there will be a transition in the next two years. We're getting ready.

"It's time for you to get ready too," said Jobs, refocusing his emphasis to the developers who hold the future of Macintosh third-party software support in their hands. "What do you have to do? Create universal binaries of your apps."

When Jobs greets developers at next year's show, he said, he suspects many of them will already be shipping universal binaries, and Apple will keep pushing the frontiers and offering more information about Leopard.

"Because more than the processor, more than the hardware, the soul of the Mac is its operating system," said Jobs. "And we're not standing still."

I can't wait to learn technical specs of next-generation hardware...

 

[kIdMuScLe]

does this mean that am i goin to be able to run a OS X on my pc?

 

[xsarien]

does this mean that am i goin to be able to run a OS X on my pc?

Keep dreaming.

 

[Laurent]

It might get easier for the haxor...

 

[Willco]

Keep dreaming.

He was just asking a question.

 

[ckohler]

From CNET.COM:

"After Jobs' presentation, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller addressed the issue of running Windows on Macs, saying there are no plans to sell or support Windows on an Intel-based Mac. 'That doesn't preclude someone from running it on a Mac. They probably will," he said. "We won't do anything to preclude that.'"

"However, Schiller said the company does not plan to let people run Mac OS X on other computer makers' hardware. 'We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac.'"

 

[Smiles and Cries]

From CNET.COM:

"After Jobs' presentation, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller addressed the issue of running Windows on Macs, saying there are no plans to sell or support Windows on an Intel-based Mac. 'That doesn't preclude someone from running it on a Mac. They probably will," he said. "We won't do anything to preclude that.'"

"However, Schiller said the company does not plan to let people run Mac OS X on other computer makers' hardware. 'We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac.'"

so Virtual PC will not be needed I should be able to boot both OSX and Windows on the next MAC ?!?!?

 

[xsarien]

so Virtual PC will not be needed I should be able to boot both OSX and Windows on the next MAC ?!?!?

The question remains: Why would you WANT to run Windows on a Mac? Virtual PC still has a purpose, it lets you keep Windows in a, well, window, while OS X is running in the background. There's no need to reboot to switch between them.

 

[Laurent]

Emulated PC software on Mac will be a hell lot faster...

 

[fart]

it's been the worst kept secret in industry that apple has had this project in the pipes for years. i don't think the transition will be very hard - they've set up their APIs very nicely, and the emu layer doesn't have to be very serious at all - nothing compared to blue box anyways. i just wonder why they waited so goddamn long, and of course, why they'll inevitably change the platform architecture just enough to make their hardware proprietary (as usual).

 

[scorcho]

wasn't intel working on an on-chip technology that would allow for multiple OS' to work at the same time on the same hardware w/o performance loss?

if priced right, this Intel Mac could be a silver bullet to siphon Microsoft and other PC-maker sales.

 

[RobotChant]

So much for all those silly Nintendo, Apple team-up theories.

 

[golem]

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2438

 

[xsarien]

So much for all those silly Nintendo, Apple team-up theories.

Actually, there's nothing too silly about it, and the hope did extend to the wishful thinking of a few analysts. The companies both have the same approach to their products: That there should be some layer of transparency to processes that are normally a little bit of a hassle (or a lot of a hassle); that the user wants to spend his/her time doing what they bought the product to do, not configuring it.

Of course, the reality of the corporate cultures will keep this partnership a dream and nothing more.

 

[RobotChant]

The speculation started to pop up when Nintendo went with the PPC, IIR. It was the similar architecture that started all the Nintendo/Apple alliance talk.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

Ohhh maybe this will be the first desktop to use vanderpool , which as mentioned before allows multiple OS's to run simultaneously.

 

[Macam]

I'm not bothered by the news at all. I love the Mac platform for one thing above all: the software. My only real concern is about the developer communities' transition and the impact of the hardware in the interim, as it's put off my PowerMac purchase until, I presume, June '06 when the first Intel machines roll out; and I presume the PMs will be among the first to sport the new chips (and possibly dual-dual by then).

Perhaps it's my general indifference to hardware, but I was more excited by the Leopard at the end of '06 announcement. I'm hoping Apple really cranks the heat up on Microsoft in terms of sofware in particular (and I suspect this whole announcement stems from Jobs' attempting to capitalize on Apple's momentum to regain what it lost), because between the two hot heads that run the companies, we should all benefit from the results.

 

[tedtropy]

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2438

I wonder how many Apple fans wretched in a sense of betrayal upon seeing that? And I wonder if any of them were hot...

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I wonder how many Apple fans wretched in a sense of betrayal upon seeing that? And I wonder if any of them were hot...

Not me. I've never been a CPU whore. I like that little number next to the processor a whole lot.

I do know that some of my Mac loving friends have long, long been down on the Intel architecture and won't be linking this new,s though.

 

[Laurent]

After reading pages and pages of MacRumors forum arguments, I would said about half of them. Personnally, I think this transition was necessary since IBM wasn't going to deliver new performance anytime soon.

It's a good decision. Althought, Apple is going backward by stepping back on a 32 bit road..

The only reason I can imagine Apple not forwarding into it's 64 bit march with Intel could be cost reasons, or Apple fears that Intel might not overcome similar problem that IBM had related to the G5 (partly heat issues). If the transition is done right, Apple could comfortably introduce 64 bit processors on their high end models in 2 years.

64 bit is expensive and not for everyone, calling the processor a G5 (read: the only step after G4) was stupid to begin with..

 

[xsarien]

Has it been confirmed that they'll be using Intel's 32-bit chips? I just assumed that Apple would be interested in using the Xeons and Itaniums just so they wouldn't need to go back to 32-bit.

 

[ManaByte]

...more big games on the Mac now?

 

[Laurent]

Has it been confirmed that they'll be using Intel's 32-bit chips? I just assumed that Apple would be interested in using the Xeons and Itaniums just so they wouldn't need to go back to 32-bit.

Well the technical terms for this transition has been describe in Xcode 2.1 documentations as "PPC/PPC64 -> IA32"... They would have mentionned the 64 bit side of the story if they intended programmers to conceive applications that runs natively on Intel 64 bit CPU...