Intel teams up with China Mobile

INTEL IS TEAMING up with China Mobile to promote TD-SCDMA netbooks to the Chinese.

Chipzilla which, in the past, has teamed up with Chinese PC maker Hasee Computer, has now decided to expand its reach by bundling its laptops with 3G data services courtesy of China Mobile. Intel’s Centrino 2 laptops have, up until now, been using China Telecom’s Wi-fi.

But Acer netbooks are already using 3G outside of the Middle Kingdom and now Ian Yang, Veep of Chipzilla’s Sales and Marketing Group and general manager of Intel China, thinks its time a switch was made.

Asus’ little Eeeeeee, packing the Intel Atom, is selling faster than soya hot cakes in China, leading some to believe the phenomenon might take a chunk out of Intel’s Centrino laptop sales.

Little Atom-based processors are much cheaper than the bigger, more powerful Centrino machines and, with the global economy going to pot, many are looking to smaller, cheaper alternatives.

Computer makers wanting the Atom, however, are having to deal with major shortages of the chip, sometimes abandoning it for other, more available alternatives. This is something Intel says it is in the process of rectifying, with plans to up the production of the tiny processors to keep up with demand.

The Chip Giant just better hope it can make good on its promise, because with a market of a billion Chinese to cater for, production of the diminuitive chip is going to have to make atomic leaps. µ

See Also
Atomic shortage blamed on bottlenck