Good Morning Silicon Valley

If Apple rumor sites were feeling a chill in the wake of Think Secret’s quiet death (see “Apple makes the messenger kill himself“), it wasn’t obvious today. Citing the always chatty “people familiar with the matter,” AppleInsider reports that Apple will cozy up even closer to Intel early next year when it starts building devices that use the chipmaker’s upcoming 45-nanometer “Silverthorne” chip, aimed specifically at cell phones, ultra-mobile PCs and other mobile Internet gadgets. The chip’s major selling point is speed plus stingy power demands, and AppleInsider thinks it could end up in a 3G iPhone or some sort of ultra-portable slate. What’s more, Intel CEO Paul Otellini has suggested that the average price of a Silverthorne-based device would be around $100, raising speculation about all sorts of relatively inexpensive directions for Apple. Let the speculation begin — among Apple fans, about the products, and among Apple lawyers, about the sources.