Regular readers will be aware that this year has a big elephant in the room. The Elephant is so big that every electronic manufacturer wants to see it but only a few have the capacity to do so. The tablet ecosystem is very congested and has many players in it. There is one dominant brand in it (Apple) which can make or break the opportunity that other manufacturers have to enter the ecosystem. The actual hardware makers that produce all the bits for the iPad can be seen as the silent heroes of the ecosystem and are signed to very stringent contracts to do the things that Steve Jobs and his staff want.
Intel is a brand that I keep an eye on as they are normally a good barometer as to what will happen in the boring old desktop computing world. Their relationship with Microsoft is not as strong anymore and they are not the preferred CPU manufacturer for any of the big tablet players. A British company (ARM) is the CPU manufacturer of choice.
So what has Intel done about it? They have unveiled new technology to make their tablet CPU’s lighter on battery usage. So they are trying to become a bigger player in the tablet space. The fact that they are considering creating their own tablets is an indication to me that they believe they have lost too much ground against their opposition. It is a risky strategy and could potentially put Intel under further pressure.
I have one question though; will consumers buy Intel tablets? They are an unknown as a hardware manufacturer and that alone will cause doubt during the purchase decision-making process.They will need to spend heavily on advertising to create user traction, but is this really worth it? Time will tell for Intel whether this is a good or a bad decision. So will you consider buying an Intel tablet?
