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Why Intel Needs Smartphones More Than They Need Intel
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from ZDNet:
"The launch of the Orange San Diego, the first handset using an Intel Atom processor, marks a big milestone for the chipmaker: it's finally in the smartphone market. But does the market need Intel at all? ... Intel's scale and the reach of its other divisions gives [Mike] Bell's smartphone unit a boost; for example, it can reuse code optimizations for Atom done by the desktop team. ... Even so, the smartphone team has got a tough job on its hands — but it's one Intel has to tackle, according to Carolina Milanesi, mobile analyst at Gartner. 'This is certainly an attack strategy for Intel. The smartphone market is so large now that they need a piece of the pie,' she said. But will consumers care whether their handset runs on an Intel chip? Bell conceded that aside from the tech-savvy, most people probably don't know which chip is inside their phone. It's likely, given the lack of advertising on this, that most probably don't care — making Intel's job even harder."
There is games, though; some Android game engines are written in part in native code for the speed boost, and I can't imagine that an Intel phone will shine when forced to emulate an ARM CPU on the fly for those occasions.
And for most applications, the CPU really does not matter. They'll run nicely on anything able to host the Dalvik VM. At best, an Intel phone will be no different than a ARM one, and at worst it will just add an extra bit of frustration.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
... more than Earth needs humans and why Microsoft needs PCs more than PCs need Microsoft
and even *gasp* why mammals need air more than air needs mammals
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Smartphones need Intel as much as photography needs Kodak!!
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
performance wise ARM is crap compared to Intel. Just like Intel was crap compared to SPARC and all the other architectures they killed off in the last 30 years
one of the most important rules of business is to protect the low end of your market. if you don't then a competitor will establish a lower margin business and move up to take your high end. Just like Intel did.
even apple knows this and has products just good enough to keep low end competitors at bay
YES. Competition is good and ARM has been able to be complacent without someone else challenging them. Medfield is a solid start for Intel, but obviously they need to improve on it and everyone will benefit by having more choices.
Asking that loaded question is like saying that we already have Windows and Mac OS so the market doesn't need Linux...
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
some Android game engines are written in part in native code for the speed boost
Are they written in assembly language or something? Because if they're written in C++ (as I suspect), game developers can just recompile the C++ parts for x86, test on a netbook running Android for x86, and deploy the x86 edition through Google Play Store.
Later Nokia switched to AMD for their 9100, then to ARM for the 9210 series. I bought a 9201i in 2002, I believe I paid t something like 1500usd..
There were also a few Japanese intel based phones, but those ran Windows XP.. Not really what I would call a smart phone. So, it might be correct to say that this is the "first Intel based smart-phone which might launch in the US".
Using systems that require more on pre-made libraries, and almost no Low Level coding, allowing applications and even large parts of the OS to be ported from one Platform to the next, with very little work.
So if one platform runs only Java bytecode, a second platform runs only .NET bytecode, and a third platform runs only native code, in what language should an application for a device without an always-on high-speed Internet connection be written?
For the mentally challenged: The smart phone market is HUGE. For Intel to remain profitable and grow they need to move into the smart phone market.
As investors and analysts can see, the mobile market is where the growth is. Intel is a niche player in the mobile market. Tablets and smartphones rule the roost. desktops and even laptops are falling to the wayside.
It would be stupid for Intel not to make a push because if they don't, they may find themselves out of business.