Intel Corp roped in device makers such as
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hewlett Packard Co on Thursday to
showcase tablets powered by its new “Atom” processor - a chip it hopes
will help it biannually break into that crowded market.Intel
initially brushed off any threat from tablets such as Apple Inc’s iPad,
but now hopes the combination of a low power consuming processor with
touch friendly Microsoft Corp Windows 8 software will win over
enterprise customers looking to deploy tablets, but keep PC-based
software and hardware.
The
world’s largest chip maker says the “Atom Z2760” - formerly code named
“Clover Trail” - is tailored to work with the latest version of
Microsoft’s operating system, due in late October. Tablets that use
both the Atom and Widows 8 will be able to run widely used software
such as Word and Excel, while connecting to peripherals such as
printers.
It also lengthens battery life, enabling tablets to run 10-plus
hours of streaming high-definition video, said Intel applications
processor division chief Eric Reid.
Targeting corporations and government agencies means the first wave
of Intel-powered tablets and tablet-laptop hybrids will avoid the worst
of the consumer war now raging between Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
“These new Atom-based tablets have been targeted at spaces where
Intel and Microsoft can win, the enterprise market, and as an
alternative to a notebook,” said Patrick Moorhead, head of Moor
Insights and Strategy.
Dell Inc, Acer Inc, Asustek Computer Inc and ZTE Corp round out the
half-dozen PC makers that trotted out their upcoming tablets, some of
which sport a detachable keyboard or stylus designed to support
free-form drawing and writing.
“Every tablet shown today does what neither an iPad or Kindle Fire
HD does well, which is creating content and controlling via a keyboard
and trackpad,” he said. “This provides differentiation while not going
head to head with Apple and Amazon.”
With PC sales expected to stagnate over the next year or two, Intel
hopes to make up for lost time and regain market share ceded to rivals
such as Qualcomm Inc, Texas Instruments Inc and Nvidia Corp, whose
applications processors now power most tablets except the iPad.
Although the “Intel Inside” sticker remains affixed to 80 percent of
the world’s PCs, the Santa Clara, California, company has been slow to
adapt its chips for smartphones and tablets.
Analysts say the semiconductor industry leader has woken up to the
tablet threat only in the past year. It is now rushing into the mobile
market, motivated in part by slowing PC sales across consumer,
businesses and even the emerging market segments it once relied on to
propel sales.
This month, it cut its third-quarter revenue estimate by a more than
expected 8 percent and withdrew its full-year outlook entirely.
Intel’s tablet strategy so far has focused on Windows 8 and its
“x86” architecture found in most of the world’s PCs. But executives
said this month that tablets running their processors and based on
Google’s Android software are also in the works.
Microsoft’s main assault on the tablet market involves Windows RT, a
version of Windows 8 that works off the ARM Holdings chip designs that
now dominate the market and drive the iPad and other mobile devices.