Intel jumping into the tablet chipset fray

[Kabob]

It's about time.
From Phandroid:

Intel Based Honeycomb Tablets Are On The Way
Ever since I’ve watched Android make its evolutionary jump from smartphones onto the tablet scene, I’ve oft wondered where Intel was during this tablet craze. The semiconductor giant had remained strangely quiet on the subject — until now.

Digitimes is reporting that after a year and a half of negotiations with Google, the strategy formally known as PRC Plus will be pushing an Intel/Android 3.0 based tablet sometime during the third quarter of this year. PRC Plus hopes to take advantage of Intel’s stronger performance over ARM-based processors and improve on Honeycomb’s user experience.

Intel is also hoping to entice more manufacturers by offering $10 chip subsidy to “first-tier notebook vendors” if they make a tablet using an their processor. This would discourage manufacturers from using ARM or AMD based chipsets with the hopes of offsetting some of the costs.

I can tell you this, the thought of a Honeycomb based tablet with “Intel inside” definitely has my nerd hormones raging.

 

[Glitchny]

well this should be interesting.

 

[theeedude]

Yeah, chip's so great they have to pay vendors to use it.

 

[dguy6789]

Yeah, chip's so great they have to pay vendors to use it.

None of the current companies producing mobile chips are even in the same league of technology that Intel is. Intel getting into the industry is a pretty huge deal.

 

[theeedude]

None of the current companies producing mobile chips are even in the same league of technology that Intel is. Intel getting into the industry is a pretty huge deal.

Yeah, it's in such league of technology, it has to pay vendors to use it.

 

[YoungGun21]

Yeah, it's in such league of technology, it has to pay vendors to use it.

They have the room in their cash flows to make a move like a subsidy. It allows them to move much more easily into the market. Their technology hasn't had a chance to prove itself, so once it does they will remove the subsidy. I can guarantee you that.

 

[Dulanic]

Yeah, it's in such league of technology, it has to pay vendors to use it.

Yeah, chip's so great they have to pay vendors to use it.

So important you had to repeat that line twice? LOL That is one of the dumbest arguement I've heard in a while. It is no different than door buster sales, Amazon app market with free apps and a dozen other ways to entice customers to check out your new products. Vendors = Intel's customer in this case.

Once they prove their worth in the market they cut out those incentives and let their name speak for itself.

 

[Beer4Me]

Uhh, this is a game changer here. I expect to see Intel bring some decent and affordable tablets to mainstream now (a la Ipad2, but without the pricetag). AMD should've jumped on this awhile ago since they've been so stale with their mainstream desktop/mobile line-up. I'm sure they could've engineered some form of Llano to meet the power reqs.

 

[randomlinh]

Uhh, this is a game changer here. I expect to see Intel bring some decent and affordable tablets to mainstream now (a la Ipad2, but without the pricetag). AMD should've jumped on this awhile ago since they've been so stale with their mainstream desktop/mobile line-up. I'm sure they could've engineered some form of Llano to meet the power reqs.

heh, my guess is they couldn't, or else they would have. I don't think they could spare much resources outside of getting llano out, and getting it out right (yet to be seen..).

 

[SunnyD]

heh, my guess is they couldn't, or else they would have. I don't think they could spare much resources outside of getting llano out, and getting it out right (yet to be seen..).

AMD sold off their rather profitable/successful embedded SoC division years ago to redouble effort on its desktop CPU division.

 

[theeedude]

So important you had to repeat that line twice? LOL That is one of the dumbest arguement I've heard in a while. It is no different than door buster sales, Amazon app market with free apps and a dozen other ways to entice customers to check out your new products. Vendors = Intel's customer in this case.

Once they prove their worth in the market they cut out those incentives and let their name speak for itself.

If that happens, we'll talk. So far, Intel based tablets are heavy, hot, and have pathetic battery life, so their name speaks for itself loud and clear. Hence the subsidy. And knowing Intel's past, there are probably wink-wink nod-nods going out to all the "top notebook vendors" about what could happen to their notebook chip allocation and pricing if they don't play ball.

 

[BoberFett]

Didn't it take Intel forever just to get a lower power chipset out the door for Atom based netbooks? What exactly do they plan to bring to the table? If there's one thing I've come to expect from Intel, it's high performance power sucking monster CPUs and chipsets.

 

[Genx87]

Pretty interesting a market giant is getting into tablets. Says a lot where they believe the market could go. That said, they need to come up with something that will last longer than 3 hours on a battery while sitting idle or they can forget it. I think they have issues due to sticking with x86. But maybe they will resurrect xScale?

 

[SunnyD]

Pretty interesting a market giant is getting into tablets. Says a lot where they believe the market could go. That said, they need to come up with something that will last longer than 3 hours on a battery while sitting idle or they can forget it. I think they have issues due to sticking with x86. But maybe they will resurrect xScale?

Remember, Intel did the very same thing by pooping out Atom when Netbooks became big. Personally, I'm looking forward to market saturation of high quality tablets for a pittance of what they're priced today.

 

[poofyhairguy]

If all this really means is more Atom tablets, no thanks.

I wonder if this is really about Apple. Apple since the Intel switch has been a first tier Intel provider (getting the first shipments of new chips), yet has had enough leverage to reject the conditions forced on other first tier providers (Intel branding, etc.) due to the benefits of the Apple's image in Intel's eyes.

Now that Apple is in the CPU business itself, and is leading the charge in the ARM segment that is the first legitimate threat to Intel's empire in over a decade, Intel is intent on making another Tier 1- like a Tier 1+++. This way primarily computer vendors like Dell who are playing in the tablet market tie their fate to Intel, and Intel creates a beachhead to defend against Apple (and Samsung).

For once though Intel is too-little, too-late. Atoms were never really intended to go in Netbooks, as that market didn't exit. Intel made Atom to go in phones/tablets. In those markets Atom has been a colossal failure. Instead of spending the money to make an Atom that can compete on power-usage with ARM (hint Intel, time to cut off old compatibility layers), they are trying to force their inferior product onto the market with bribes. I don't think this will end well for Intel, or the companies that take them up on the offer.

 

[s44]

None of the current companies producing mobile chips are even in the same league of technology that Intel is.

Did you think the same thing when they announced Larrabee?