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Intel To Rebrand Processors In 2008
DJ notes that TechARP has up a look at Intel's plans to rebrand their processors, including what must be a leaked internal chart of the old and new landscape of product names. This story doesn't seem to have been picked up anywhere else yet. Quoting: "We just heard from an anonymous source that Intel will be rebranding their processors in 2008... These new brand names will come into effect on the first day of 2008. Intel hopes that these new brands will not only leverage the strong Core 2 brand but also make it less confusing for the consumer. At the moment, the Intel Centrino mobile platform has five different logos with brands like Centrino, Centrino Duo and Centrino Pro. Starting from January 1, 2008, Intel will consolidate the Centrino Duo and Centrino brands under the Intel Centrino brand, and rename the Centrino Pro as Intel Centrino with vPro Technology."
Hexium... :p
;)
Sorry, I guess I took on the geek role of spoiling jokes with accuracies.
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This is my sig.
In the 1990s I worked for a packaging design firm that had Intel as a client. The company's assignment was to design packaging and in-store displays for the latest Intel processor, the Pentium II, now with MMX. So Intel shipped us all the latest logos associated with the chip.
I don't know if you remember that logo, but it looked pretty much like this. Blue Intel logo, purple and black Pentium II logo down below, and an ugly little purple-red-yellow rainbow gradient thing in the corner that said "MMX."
So the designers did their designs, they conferred with Intel, final designs were agreed upon, and the designers delivered their comps to Intel. Somebody gets a call:
Intel: We're looking at the final designs and everything seems in order. Except the logo seems all messed up.
(Our designers didn't do anything to the logo, so far as we knew, so this was a little surprising.) Us: What's wrong?
Intel: Well, this doesn't really look like Pentium Purple, and this logo definitely is not Intel Blue.
Us: Ah. Well... yes, I see what you mean. Not to worry. This is pretty normal when dealing with four-color process. We'll have one of our production people on-site at the printer's to make sure it matches your sample as closely as possible.
Intel: As closely as possible doesn't cut it. I need this to be Intel Blue and this absolutely must be Pentium Purple. And now that you mention it, the rainbow gradient doesn't really look like it goes from Intel Red to Intel Purple to Intel Yellow, either. Did you get our Pantone swatches?
Us: Well, yes. But since this is a four-color job, you realize that you can't really get all those colors into the job. They don't all fit into the four-color gamut. We assumed that you wanted the closest approximation for each (and I think they match pretty well, but we can do better).
Intel: Not acceptable. We NEED this to be Intel Blue. This MUST be Pentium Purple.
Us: The only way to do that is to use custom spot colors. We'd have to run an additional pass through the printer for each color.
Intel: Then that's what you have to do.
Us: OK, so just to confirm. For every single piece of advertising we produce for you -- every box, every poster, every five-foot-high cardboard cutout, every display -- in addition to the four-color process for all the photographs and box art, you want us to run four additional spot colors. And you're willing to incur the additional charges that this entails. And this is just to print the Intel Pentium II logo, which on this box I have here is exactly 1.2cm tall on the lower righthand corner of the box.
Intel: That is correct. Spare no expense.
The lesson learned: Don't expect rational decisionmaking from the internal marketing department of a behemoth corporation.
Breakfast served all day!
I don't think there is any way to make processor naming and branding less confusing to the average consumer because the average consumer mostly doesn't care. The terms mobile, dual core, hyperthreaded etc, etc mean nothing. All they want to know is if it's "fast (enough)".
Meanwhile rebranding does litlle for tech heads like us because what you call a processor isn't as important as what it does. We already know what we're looking for in a processor. We understand what kind of processor suits our needs and look at the acual numbers: clock frequency, number of cores, data bus, cache, as well as the actual performance benchmarks--all things that mean NOTHING to a general consumer.
So really there isn't much processor companies can do to make their product lines easier to understand. The general consumers don't care, and tech people already know all they're looking for. So rather than market to the consumer, just throw up the processor and the specs to the guys who really choose the chips--the hobbyists and guys in IT and engineering who actually build/choose the computers. It doesn't matter what you call it, we'll figure out what to use any way.