Intel cuts five from Viiv to combat Live!

The ICH9-DH chipset, which is the southbridge at the heart of the Viiv experience, will cost motherboard makers just $1 later in 2007, a hefty cut down from the current $5.

That's $4 of extra margin for a group of manufacturers dying for just a few cents here and there in the razor-thin mobo biz - a nice incentive.

Intel wants to push Viiv harder this year, having spent the first couple of years of its life working to get the ecosystem going - funding media companies to push content out to Windows Media Center, waiting for Windows Media Center to become less buggy, sponsoring competitions for home theatre PC design and working with Apple on its iTunes service just in case Viiv goes arse over elbow.

However, the spectre of the always-in-the-know analyst looms over Ottelini's Acolytes. Unnamed and unchained, the 'analysts' wonder if Intel can sustain the Viiv brand in the face of increased competition from AMD Live.

Is this the same AMD Live that was once a launch ethos, then a badge, then a set top box, then a CPU, then a platform, and will soon morph beyond all recognition into something that people care even less about than Viiv?

Shurely shome mishtake? µ

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