ZDNet News: Apple May Use Intel Chips. Every year or so, this rumor floats down the PC press gutter, and this year, ZDNet (via the WSJ) picks it up, cleans it off, and dresses it up for the prom.

The Wall Street Journal, citing two industry executives with knowledge of recent discussions between the companies, reported that Apple will agree to use Intel chips.

Yeah. Sure. I’ll believe it when I see it.

This speculation has been going on ever since Apple chose Mac OS X, whose core kernel, Darwin, can indeed be compiled for and run on the x86 platform.

• Enderle in IT Trends 2003: Desktop and Mobile PCs said once that Apple would be forced to go with Intel.
• Dvorak in PC Magazine: Apple Switch, in which he predicts that Apple will be using Intel chips within 12-18 months (as of this writing, it’s now 26 months and counting since his prediction).

John Gruber at Daring Fireball explains in both cases why Dvorak and Enderle have their heads way up their collective posteriors. I would consider his debunking of such punditry as still applicable to this most recent rumor.

PARTING SHOT. This paragraph is plain dumb:

But for Intel, winning over Apple would be a prestigious endorsement from one of technology’s most influential trendsetters and could associate the chipmaker with Apple’s hugely popular iPod music player.

The iPod has worked with PCs just fine for a long time now. Furthermore, most, if not all, consumers buying an iPod could not care less whether or not the Apple is using Intel or IBM for its computer hardware.