Reliable anonymous insider sources report that Apple will soon pull the plug on Mac OS X development. Apple will instead focus on their popular iPod music players and x86 PCs. The PCs will apparently use Apple’s current designs, but be manufactured by Dell.

Sources inform us that Tiger will be the last version of the Mac OS. Development will cease as soon as 10.4 goes gold (which has already happened, according to some rumors). The official announcement will be delivered during Michael Dell’s keynote address at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Apple will cease production of PowerPC-based hardware shortly thereafter.

One of our sources had this to say: “It seems Apple sees all the R&D on products only 3% of the market uses as a waste of resources. Besides, as Dell demonstrates, being unique is overrated.”

Analysts aren’t quite sure what to make of the news. “It’s an interesting move, to say the least,” A.P. Rulfulse of research firm Lawson, Mayer, Aldridge, and Owens LLC told Deep Thought. “Their iPod line is certainly successful but the Mac is the soul of the company. However, the Windows market is much larger, and apparently the temptation to ‘Think ordinary’ was too great.”

Apple representatives were not available for comment.

Deep Thought’s Take:
It isn’t much of a surprise, really. I mean, when was the last time Apple has actually advertised the Mac? And the fact that the latest iPods do not include a Firewire cable was another indicator that the times they are a-changin’ at Apple.