Apple Courting Core Meltdown

"Anyone who is dumb enough to buy a computer because of the iPod is going to buy in the face of [a processor] upgrade," says Duncan Stewart, a portfolio manager with Toronto-based Tera Capital who follows the technology industry but does not currently have a position in Apple.

And many analysts believe the move to Intel will be beneficial to Apple in the long term, regardless of the short-term consequences. With the PowerPC chips, Apple was continuously running into supply constraints, notes one buy-side analyst, who asked not to be named.

"For Apple to increase its market share, they needed to go to Intel," says the analyst, whose firm is not involved in Apple's stock.

But if Apple's halo shines brightly in the future because of the move, it may well dim in the near term.