re:It's also in IBM's interests to weaken any rivals to its hegemony and return itself to its pre-PC numero uno status
IBM has dramatically changed its business model in the last 5-10 years. Almost all growth is from services, not hardware. Hardware is just a means to get in the clients door to sell services. Even R&D is being told to tie everything to revenue or customer satisfaction. I dont think IBM will do anything dramatic to piss Intel off.