Intel Shifts Might To Mobile 79
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."
Re:little late (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:little late (Score:5, Interesting)
You forget, perhaps, who Intel is, and what they have.
Everyone and their grandmother may be ordering ARM-based chips from the contract fabs, but Intel does its own design and fabrication.
Their economies of scale and vertical efficiencies are not something that the ARM world can stay ahead of for very long.
If Intel has decided that there's enough profit in this sector to make it their major focus, their monthly spending on it could outstrip everyone else's annual expenditure.
BTW, they've been in mobile before. It just wasn't big enough for them to make real money at it. Now is a whole new situation. Mobiles are a lot more like computers than they are like phones, so putting more computer-like CPU cores into them is a logical idea.
ARM needs to start playing catch-up just to stay in the race, even though it's ahead in the early laps.
Re:Rob Enderle (Score:4, Interesting)
Rob Enderle of "SCO's gonna win!" fame.
Also, Apple's "Insert iProduct Here" will fail.
He also predicted that HD DVD would beat out Blu-ray just before Warner Brothers announced that they were going Blu-ray exclusive. Rob was on the payroll of Toshiba as a "consultant".