Otellini sees a future in mobile phones

HAVING OFF-LOADED a previous attempt to crack the mobile phone market - by handing Xscale to Marvel in 2006 - Intel chief, Paul Otellini has just told the FT, "I'm extremely bullish on our opportunity in that space."

Bizarrely, he seems to be taking credit for the buzz which the Iphone has created in legitimising the 'ultra-portable' space which Intel has been pushing with the likes of Silverthorn.

He thinks, "It's inevitable that all of the devices that we carry - that today we would call phones - for the most part will have internet access, and will take on capabilities that are more like computers than like phones."

Wow. That's why we've been calling them smartphones for yonks. But the biggest clue lies in this statement …

"They'll address low-cost - these kinds of chips can address the needs for ultra-low cost computing in emerging markets, where the disposable income isn't what it is here."

In other words, Intel has figured out that if it produces low-power, low-cost processors so that it can compete in merging markets, then they might as well go inside the new breed of smartphones hanging on to the Iphone's petticoat tails.

And why would mobile phone vendors go for that? Easy. Because they'll offer, "the ability to run any software in the world, in a high performance environment, to give you that user experience that you'd want with these devices, is second to none."

It's all so obvious really. µ

L'INQ
FT interview