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Intel Shifts Might To Mobile
CWmike writes "After years of dominance in computer chips, Intel now is chasing the mobile chip market and trying to redefine its future. During Intel's financial analyst meeting Monday, CEO Paul Otellini announced that he is refocusing the company, moving its 'center' from PC processors to processors for the burgeoning mobile market. 'I think Intel recognizes that they absolutely have to get a win here,' said analyst Rob Enderle. 'All the activity is in mobile. A post-PC era would be a post-Intel era if they don't get a beachhead established.' Earlier this month, Intel made a move in this new direction when it unveiled its new 3D transistor technology that is expected to position the chip maker to grab a piece of the mushrooming tablet market."
Rob Enderle of "SCO's gonna win!" fame.
Traditionally Intel didn't really pursue this market because of the low margins. Also ARM was far better at power consumption/cost whereas x86 was better at performance/cost. They can't ignore the market anymore. Tablets are predicted to sell 40-50 million units this year. And every one of them whether iPad, Xoom, PlayBook, whatever will not use an ATOM chip. While tablets can't replace laptops outright, they can replace enough functionality where a person buys a tablet instead of a 2nd computer.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
They've been putting a little attention on mobile, and playing a little poker with the market. Now, clearly, they see that desktop is about to become a lower tier, and mobile will be the major sector, and server will be the hidden half of the mobile sector.
Their ability to work at low power and small form-factor is improving to competitive levels, and they can work past any deficiency they have in those areas.
So now they're actually putting their major focus on mobile. The 800-lb gorilla just entered the room.