By the time Intel really could deliver, Apple was committed to PowerPC, and if Sculley had chosen Intel back when he claims he had the chance, he'd have done so solely on the basis of Andy Grove's promise that It Would Be So. That would have been a stupid decision, and is really not one that could or should have been made. Stupid decisions can turn out to be right for the wrong reasons - but not in this case.
If Apple had switched to Intel at almost any time in the last 15 years it would have been making a dangerous, possibly reckless move. The switch to PowerPC has obviously not panned out in entirely the way it was intended, in that it was a component of a volume play that has not worked, but it's had the virtue of aligning Apple with companies who, through lack of other friends, have had little choice but to more or less look after Apple. Sure, Apple has at times been a pawn in other companies' much larger games, but although it's had its ups and downs it's still here, the brand is if anything even cooler, and it's looking pretty healthy for a loser.
