It is not often that a company needs to make a wholesale change due to a perception problem but Intel seemingly has a stigma it can’t loose. If you cast your mind back 2 years then you will remember that netbooks was where all the notebook manufacturers were going. Lenovo, Acer and HP all made these smaller form factor devices.
Apple created the tablet and the manufacturers started feeling the pain. I think we can all agree, Steve Jobs left us all with something that is really useful. The tablet (not those found in the pharmacy) has forever changed the computer industry. The post PC world that every analyst mentions these days is indicative of the influence of the iPad. The Samsung Galaxy also is making waves..
The problem Intel has is that they lost out on partnering with Apple (hello ARM and their entire mobile device CPU ecosystem) and for all intensive purposes the netbook has been dead for almost 6 months. Why? Simple – the tablet has become a habit for many users globally.
Intel’s Bay Trail chip is based on the Atom architecture, which is in low-power smartphones & tablets. Beyond the tablet chip, Intel will release Bay Trail-M (mobile) and Bay Trail-D (desktop) parts, which will be available under the Celeron and Pentium brands. I reckon in the next 12 months the Celeron and Pentium will become the lower end powerhouses for Intel. What happens to the Atom CPU? I think we all know the answer (It will be taken off the market and Intel will continue without it).
Intel has to get a winning CPU soon otherwise they will become irrelevant..
