Where is Apple going with Intel and potential competition from Sony/IBM with the cell

Adrien Lamothe has a very interesting article (Apple's High-Water Mark?) and his views of Apple v's Sony plus other competition and where it is going, from Mar 2006.

... "Why should Apple worry about a gaming console? For starters, adding a 2.5-inch hard drive, keyboard, and mouse to the PlayStation 3 turns it into a full-fledged personal computer. The real eye-opener is Sony choosing Linux as the operating system for PlayStation 3, breaking away from Microsoft" ...

Apple appears intent on dethroning Sony as king of consumer electronics...

Why Intel for Apple?...

There is a very real possibility the digital media market will quickly migrate to Cell-based computers, if the applications are available...

Apple faces other challenges....

Apple's new outlets have affected the resellers. Some of Apple's old-line resellers have gone out of business. Several have filed a class-action suit against Apple....

The company appears to have reached a point where it cannot reduce its operational costs....

how will Apple's new business model measure up? Is it sustainable?...

appears to be an attempt to create a "Nike effect."...

it can hope the Cell processor turns out to be overrated. This is a real possibility. ...

There are some who think Apple should allow Mac OS X to run on other hardware....

Sony also faces some challenges....

Huge and interesting commentary at the end that discusses the article and points on Xcode, other processors etc.

Lal