With the recent number of rumors about Apple releasing Intel Macs early, I can't help but think Apple is putting out deliberate misinformation. Probably they found they were ahead of schedule and decided to move one line to Intel in January or Feburary as a trial run, but are trying to hide which line by telling different people different lines. That, or they've hired somebody to call Appleinsider's line and spam it with misinformation, mostly for Steve Jobs's amusement.
Anyway, an early Intel Mac Mini makes a lot more sense than an Intel Powerbook or iMac. The Intel Mac itself is a weird idea, and possibly not a completely bug-free idea yet, so people will be hesitant to buy them. At the same time, Apple is aware there's the potential to a PR disaster if the first Intel Macs have trouble that cause people grief. So, why would Apple first sell Intel iMacs and PowerBooks, which cost a $1200-$3000 each and often mission-critical? If even a minor bug cropped up, it would build up so much bad will that it could hurt Apple and the Intel switch for years.
Instead, if they sold Intel Mac Minis, they'd give people who are interested in the Intel switch a relatively inexpensive and consequence-free way to try it out. Most people who buy the Minis would be buying them as secondary computers, so if there were massive bugs it wouldn't hurt people as much as having their main computer not work. At worst, Apple could just recall the whole lot and send people an improved model a week later. Further, Apple would have real-world expirience with the Intel switch when they introduce their main computers, and be able to work out the bugs from them. Apple would also like to see if people can break their new and improved methods of keeping people from running Mac OS X86 on generic hardware. Finally, as people expiriment and find ways to boot Windows on the thing, a lot of Windows users may buy it to see what the whole Mac thing is about, figuring they've got a decent back-up PC if they don't like the Mac OS. So by selling a Intel Mac Mini first, Apple gets a larger beta-test of the whole Intel thing, early adopters get a cheap way to try Intel (and you know they'll buy the Intel iMac six months later, too), and developers have an earlier and larger base to sell Intel apps to. I expect Intel Mac Minis early next year, possibly with a high-end model that includes a remote, FrontRow, and TV-out (hey, it runs 90% of the applicaitons I have in slow-as-hell emulation*, but it makes a fantastic media center!).
Then again, Apple did replace their top-selling iPod Mini at its peak with a newer model, they may be gutsy enough to stick unproven technology into their top selling Mac three months after they've updated it.
*Yeah, I have higher hopes for Rosetta, but it's not going to be anywhere close to the marketing hype.
