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Intel plans 2012 assault on mobile market with restructure

by Steven Williamson on 15 December 2011, 09:40

Tags: Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

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Intel may well be the world’s largest PC chip maker, but in the mobile market it lags behind, with ARM chips powering the majority of smartphones and tablets.

Intel faces a tough road to compete against ARM in 2012, but the Santa Clara-based corporation is preparing for the new year by focusing on a strategy to penetrate the mobile market by forming a new Mobile Division.

Speaking to Reuters, Intel said that it will consolidate four of its existing divisions into one to create the Mobile and Communications Group (MCG). The merger brings together Intel's netbook/tablets, ultra mobility, mobile communications and mobile wireless divisions.

MCG will be headed by Mike Bell, vice president and GM of Ultra Mobility, and Infineon executive vice president, Hermann Eul.

"The ultimate goal is we want to speed up and improve the development process," said Intel spokesman Robert Manetta.



In 2012, Intel will unleash the x86 mobile chip, codenamed Medfield. Earlier this week it announced that it is ready to run Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on Intel Atom Medfield-based devices, though it is still working with device makers to optimise the operating system for specific devices.

"Intel optimisations for Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich are available today to ODMs (Original Design Manufacturer) and OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) using the Intel Android BSP (Board Support Package), as well as developers working with us on NDK (Native Development Kit) apps in advance of Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich-based x86 devices being available commercially," an Intel spokesman confirmed.

Mobile devices using Intel’s new chip are expected to be revealed in Q1 2012.


HEXUS Forums :: 3 Comments

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Posted by abaxas - Thu 15 Dec 2011 11:00
“Intel faces a tough road to compete against ARM in 2012, but the Santa Clara-based corporation is preparing for the new year by focusing on a strategy to penetrate the mobile market by forming a new Mobile Division.”

How are they going to compete in market that has already made it's decision? They missed that boat by about 10 years.
Posted by Noxvayl - Thu 15 Dec 2011 11:28
I'd like to thank Steve for adding full names for the abbreviations used, it was a joy to read :D

I kind of agree with abaxas, I think it will be very difficult for Intel to get significant market share in mobile devices but I think it has an opportunity to get it's foot in the door with Windows 8 and the new diversity found in mobile platforms. If netbooks and tablets weren't around I'd say they didn't have a chance at all but with the need for extra performance more than low power I think ARM hasn't been good enough to fill that need, at least not quickly enough to shut Intel out.

It will be interesting to see how Intel does because they have the marketing might to push their way through like Apple do.
Posted by ca197 - Thu 15 Dec 2011 13:01
It annoys me to think that Intel will try and stamp their ISA on the Mobile Market. I know that x86 isn't as much as a drawback as it previously was (in terms of die space) but having two competing ISA's on the same platform is just begging for consumer confusion.