I actually don't think that price point is telling anything. They need to get the hacked up Intel Mac into the hands of developers, and $999 is a compelling enough price point to do it. It's a development-only box, though, and Apple will require the return of it at the end of 2006. So they're really only leasing them for $999. Not that I think it would have any value left in it after that. I think the price point is agressive so that developers will take them up on the offer.

I don't really expect Intel processors to make for lower priced Macs. With the enclosures that Apple typically makes, they'll likely continue to use custom logic board designs and such which contribute to the cost. And I keep hearing that Apple was already getting PowerPC processors for less than the cost of some of these newfangled Intel units that Apple is expected to use. Okay, maybe we're only seeing the initial run costs of the Intel processors and those prices quickly drop? I dunno. Either way, I don't think the move is about cost.