Apple's move from IBM to Intel was criticized by many as a step backwards, at the time. Now, one year later, the move is no longer regarded as bad one, and the new offerings from Apple have proven to be as good as ever.

As Intel can be felt inside Apple's computers, it looks like Apple can be felt inside Intel's processors.

"They push us to think about things that we may not always think about", said Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's sales and marketing group. "We were hoping for that to happen and that certainly happened."

There can be no doubt that Apple has always been an innovator and visionary since day one, and despite the minute market share that its computers have, it has the biggest influence on the industry, with everyone keeping an eye on them.

Chandrasekher declined to give specific examples of how Apple had influenced the roadmap, but already Apple's need for cooler chips has been felt at Intel.

"You can anticipate that they probably pushed us on packaging and thermals and things like that", Chandrasekher said.

While the partnership between the two companies has not been long enough for these influences to begin being visible, they are without a doubt present on Intel's long-term roadmap.