Apple Courting Core Meltdown

Updated from 1:18 p.m. EDT

The bull case for Apple(AAPL Quote) over the past year has been that booming sales of iPod music players will create a "halo effect" that will lead to higher demand for the company's Macintosh computers.

While Apple has seen an uptick in Macintosh sales in recent quarters, that momentum may be slowed by the recent announcement that it is switching the processor at the heart of its computers from the PowerPC line produced by IBM(IBM Quote) and Freescale Semiconductor (FSL Quote) to chips made by Intel(INTC Quote).

Although Apple offered valid reasons for the switch, it could lead customers to delay computer purchases or choose rival systems based on Microsoft's (MSFT Quote) Windows operating system. ...