Nipple?

Such was a shorthand name suggested by an AppleInsider poster in response to rumors posted late Friday that Steve Jobs would announce some sort of new strategic alliance with Intel tomorrow during his Keynote at the 2005 Worldwide Developer Conference. "Nipple" is a (stretched) combination of "Apple" and "Intel." "Wintel" has long been the accepted shorthand for the (shaky) Microsoft-Intel alliance, and some decided it was never too early to lay claim to the next "soccer mom," "exurb", or "milf."

What the announcement will be is anyone's guess. Rumor has it Apple and IBM have had a strained relationship for quite some time as IBM has yet to deliver on the promise of a 3.0 GHz G5 or a low-power G5 for the Powerbook. Some speculators say the resultant transition will be as dramatic as the one that moved Macs from 68K to PPC, while others say Apple will simply use Intel to produce more PPC chips or chips that emulate PPC. Many say it will not be a switch to x86 as Intel has been trying to run away from that architecture for years. A few are more conservative, saying that Apple will simply use some of Intel's more dedicated multimedia chips for future devices.

Regardless of the details of the Keynote, the air will be thick with anticipation tomorrow, and I'm sure this is just what Steve Jobs wanted. If only these weren't held on the West Coast, forcing a large part of the country to wait well into the afternoon for the big news.