Why Intel might be keeping Nehalem performance under tight wraps

Hexus noticed at the Intel Developer Forum that Intel was very quiet about the performance of the upcoming Nehalem processors. There could be a handful of reasons for this but after eliminating a few the reporter believes the main reason is because Intel is scared that presenting too much information about the Core i7 processors right now will hurt the sales of the current Core 2 processors:

Ultimately, we reckon that Nehalem performance has been deliberately kept under wraps by the powers that be. Why? Because letting a full suite of numbers out for public consumption, which has been Intel's method of disseminating its engineering excellence since first-generation Core microarchitecture hit AMD Athlon in the nuts, inextricably dampens - nay, crushes - sales of present-generation parts.

As a consumer or business, why would you buy a Core 2-based system when something better, absolutely better, is just around the corner? - a product that will require a new motherboard and, potentially, new memory - kerching! Knowing just how much of a whipping Nehalem can hand to Penryn, Intel would be driving potential customers away from mid-to-high-end sales of a chip that's been yielding well for some time. Cutting off your nose to spite your face comes to mind.

Intel is scared of Nehalem, insofar as its prodigious performance makes Intel's current line-up look, well, a little tardy by comparison, and why tell people that when there are millions of Core 2-equippe d machines waiting to be sold at the likes of PC World and Best Buy? Why spend $400 on a chip, or $2,000 on a system, now when the same money will buy you so much more performance in just three months?