This acquisition is all about that future road map. Apple needs to design minor propietary chips to continue to lead the market in their mobile hardware. The day of the desktop PC is now over - the next horizon is owning the handheld market. Microsoft had a jump with its mobiles, but as with the Zune, it will not be able to compete in the long run with Apple and Google due to its perpetual design errors (Vista, Zune, etc).

If Apple can design its own custom chips that will enable its own custom features (which we know they love to do), it will forge a path that is very different from what even Google can offer. Essentially they have to ensure that they continue to set the standard on mobile hardware/software for the next 15 years. Having total control both over cost and design of specialized chips will make their software design virtually unbeatable.

Google realized this early on, and saw that it too needed to be in the mobile software arena, enabling it to be fitted to any hardware platform possible, for maximum compatibility. Apple will be able to design hardware and software together in a way a company using Android cannot - there will always be lag time between the “next version” of Android and the available hardware. Apple with this acquisition will not have those same obstacles.

This isn’t to say they will upseat the ARM chips in their hardware. But it will mean a future of new mobile hardware that stays a long step ahead of the competition, as the iPhone has already (over a year ahead to any comparable platform and features). The cost of the iPhone will continue to be more than an average phone, but that cost will matter less when that phone is your main computer platform. As they continue to lock down their software for their iPhone platform, now they will be able to also lock down certain chip designs as well.

BUT, Apple is a hardware company first and foremost so their sales must be protected at all costs.
My thinking is that they will develop custom chips much as Daniel suggests that make OSX run maybe 5 - 10x better on the genuine article Mac AND allow them to release the OS for general use so that many more people can try before they buy. This way they maintain their genuine hardware advantages and make staggering OS sales to everyone else.

I think they have seen the writing on the wall. It’s nothing short of amazing that they have not seen the Mac OS running in a virtual desktop to date - its only the goodwill gentleman’s agreement of Parallels/VMware that has so far protected them from this. It’s certainly possible since the server version already does so - but only on a Mac. This can’t possibly last and they must be preparing for that day.

They will most likely combine a number of features, maybe speed, stability, extra features, software coding(sorry but it’s on the way), integration of iTV/iPhone/iTablet or whatever… but certainly enough to maintain the differential pricing of Mac hardware and their bottom line.
It will also allow them to maintain an advantage without ‘bricking’(sorry, I don’t like the term but it’s what will be used by the clueless media bots to raise a storm of uninformed protest) Mac clones and Hackintosh hardware by system updates which carries with it the increased risk of a successful lawsuit at some time in the future.
As always, under Steve Jobs, the new Apple is looking well into the future.
My 2p

In the light of that suggestion, Apple’s recent financial rehabilitation and acquisition of PA Semi would suggest that Apple, as alert as ever to changing conditions, are keeping their eye on the ball and their options open to minimise dependency on outside forces beyond their control, and bring more of their critical advantages in-house where they can be protected from copying by IP. An in-house PA Semi would give control over design, and Apple’s increased marketplace clout would ensure that they get all the power they need from fabricators.

I suppose this would also fit nicely into DED’s ideas of differentiation and hardware acceleration, which I tend to lean towards as more likely. A case of killing several birds with one stone, possibly?