Intel: Steeley chip means lower ultramobile prices
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Few people today are buying UMPCs, but a new chip and lower prices could help by early 2008.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Intel Corp. expects its first-generation WiMax chips to spawn devices for wireless broadband end-users that cost less than $200 and won't require a visit by a service provider, a company executive said Tuesday.
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Intel Corp. is slashing the prices on many of its Pentium 4 chips by as much as one-third, as well as other desktop, mobile and server processors.
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Intel is moving to reduce its chip inventory and make way for new products by deeply discounting some of its Pentium 4 and Itanium processors.
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(InfoWorld) - Sierra Wireless will provide embedded wide-area wireless modules to a new Intel ultra mobile PC (UMPC) platform that enabling devices to hook up to 3G (third generation) wireless telecommunications, creating a new way to use a UMPC. Until now, UMPCs from most companies, includingÂ Samsung Electronics and Asustek Computer, have included two wireless functions, WLAN (wireless LAN) for wireless Internet connections in a home, office, or other location near a Wi-Fi hot spot, and Bluetooth. Few other UMPCs, save Sony's Vaio VGN-UX50, which offers Cingular EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) WAN capabilities, provide a way to connect to the Internet away from civilization. The wireless modules from Sierra, a Vancouver, British Columbia chip designer, will allow users to remain connected far out in the field, and lead to the development of many innovative, new UMPC devices, the company said. Intel plans to make itsÂ ultra mobile PC chip kitÂ available in the first half of next year, the company said at the Intel Developer Forum, which ended Thursday. The company said the microprocessors in the platform will consume just half the power of ones used in current UMPCs, and will be 25 percent smaller. The chip kit is designed to allow developers to make smaller, cooler running UMPCs with longer battery life and new possible uses, Intel said. The UMPC, code-named Origami earlier this year, is a new breed of handheld deviceÂ promoted by Microsoft and IntelÂ aimed at users requiring more PC-like functions and larger screens in a carry-around device. It falls somewhere between a tablet PC and a PDA in size, and runs on the Windows XP Tablet Edition OS. One of the first such devices was viewed by users at the Cebit electronics show in Germany early this year,Â Samsung's Q1. The device was running on a 900MHz Intel Celeron microprocessor and boasted 500MB of RAM.
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Analysis: Low flash memory prices could mean lower cost solid-state devices and bigger storage in gadgets.
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By Liu Baijia  China is likely to unveil the first ultra mobile PC using domestic microprocessor technology with chip design technologies transferred from the US firm AMD, posing challenges to companies like Intel.
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Intel may deliver WiMax technology more quickly to mobile users by including it as an option for ultramobile devices based on the company&#39;s Menlow platform, according to an Intel executive.Intel&#39;s integration of WiMax technology will come in notebooks based on the company&#39;s Montevina platform, an upgrade to the mobile Centrino platform, due out in the second half of 2008. However, it is possible that Intel will also deliver WiMax technology to ultraportables and mobile Internet devices based on the Menlow platform sometime in 2008, said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager, Intel Mobile Platforms Group.Intel is already developing a WiMax silicon chip codenamed Baxter Peak for mobile devices. Last year, Nokia said it would use Baxter Peak on its WiMax-enabled N-series Internet tablets, expected to ship in 2008.&quot;Baxter Peak is not a &#39;required&#39; part of the Menlow platform,&quot; said Kari Aakre, an Intel spokeswoman. It will be an option similar to how Echo Peak is an option for Centrino notebooks based on the Montevina mobile platform, Aakre said. Echo Peak is a minicard that integrates WiMax and Wi-Fi technology on one chip.The Menlow platform is a set of components, including the low-power Silverthorne processor and Poulsbo chipset, that run ultramobile devices. Intel didn&#39;t release further details on the platform.Adoption of WiMax is expected to take off in 2009, and Intel wants to deliver WiMax clients quicker to boost adoption of the technology, Eden said. Intel is trying to move in parallel with wireless carriers, which expect WiMax-enabled mobile devices to hit the market as the networks are established.&quot;When you&#39;re trying to create a market, you always start at the infant stages,&quot; Eden said.Intel is already testing WiMax, including in Japan and Russia.&#160;A consortium including Intel and Japanese telecom company KDDI will receive one of two WiMax licenses to be awarded by the Japanese government. Intel is assisting Russian company Comstar UTS in building a nationwide WiMax-based network.Menlow-based devices will ship in the first half of 2008. Intel also said that it will display ultramobile PCs based on Menlow architecture from vendors including Asus, BenQ, and Lenovo at the Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas this week. The Menlow platform,&#160;announced at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing in April, will be followed in 2009 by the Moorestown platform, which Intel detailed in September.The company is also developing Diamondville, an ultramobile processor bearing features similar to the Silverthorne processor.Though WiMax has availability and power consumption issues, Intel is trying to get carriers building networks to establish WiMax as a standard, said Dean McCarron, founder and principal at analyst firm Mercury Research.&quot;Intel wants to make sure that there is a readily available platform that can use WiMax and that it&#39;s worth the while of wireless providers to support WiMax,&quot; McCarron said.If Intel can tackle the power-consumption issues and provide wide-area network access through its products, adoption of the technology may increase, McCarron said.
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SAN FRANCISCO - Intel Corp. outlined its plans for a dual-core mobile processor and platform technology Wednesday, but declined to provide any details about the dual-core future of its flagship Pentium 4 desktop processor.
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Micron Technology Inc.  on Friday forecast that prices for memory chips used in consumer electronics would be down 30 percent to 40 percent this quarter from the previous one.
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At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Qualcomm offered a sneak peek of its concept for an ultramobile PC for the largely untapped market where it will meet Intel head on.
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Intel&#39;s attempt to conquer the mobile phone chip market took a mighty step forward today when the chip maker announced a partnership with leading smart phone OS maker Symbian and leading smart phone manufacturer Nokia to co-operate on the development of
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(InfoWorld) - Ultramobile PCs, the new product category developed by Microsoft, have been unsuccessful so far because they're too expensive and their batteries don't last long enough, a top Advanced Micro DevicesÂ executive said Friday. AMD is exploring the prospects for ultramobile PCs, which includeÂ Samsung Electronics' Q1, but wants to be sure they make sense for users before making a big commitment, said Phil Hester, AMD's chief technology officer, in an interview at Computex. The devices are currently more expensive than many laptop PCs and their batteries don't last very long compared to other devices. They also need new screens that can be viewed outdoors under the glare of the sun, according to Hester. "We have a processor for that space when the space is ready," he said. Most of the big design wins for ultramobile PCs have gone to Intel and Via Technologies, which may help to explain Hester's coolness to the market. Samsung recently announced a new version of the Q1, called the Q1 Ultra, which starts at about $800 and uses Intel's new McCaslin processor. The new Intel chip should improve battery life considerably over the previous model, from 1.5 hours to more than 4 hours, according to Samsung. But AMD has had some design wins too, with itsÂ Geode processors. Raon Digital, a South Korean company, uses the Geode LX800 in its Vega ultramobile PC, and has put an LX900 in its Everun, which hasn't been launched yet. The Vega boasts 6-hours of battery life, while the Everun lasts seven hours on its standard battery, or up to 12 hours with an upgraded battery pack. Besides ultramobiles, the Geode family is aimed at low-end laptop PCs and the high end of the handset market, Hester said. There's a Geode processor in Nicholas Negroponte'sÂ One-Laptop-Per-Child laptop. The OLPC project is trying to reduce the cost of its laptop to $100 and put it in the hands of school children in the developing world. Hester believes the battle to put the next billion people on the Internet is not going to be won by PCs, however. "I really think for most people, the device is going to be the handset," he said. Â
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(InfoWorld) - Global mobile phone makers including Taiwan'sÂ High Tech ComputerÂ are already testing new processors from Qualcomm with which the chip manufacturer hopes toÂ challenge IntelÂ in the market for ultramobile PCs and mobile devices. Qualcomm has already started sending out SnapDragon chip packages to developers so they can see what kinds of devices might be made around them. The ultra-low power consumption of theÂ Scorpion processorÂ they contain could enable a whole new breed of mobile device, said Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei. The microprocessor currently being sampled is a 1GHz chip that uses between 250 milliwatts and 500 milliwatts of power, he said. Intel's best processor for ultramobile PCs is A110, which runs at 800MHz and uses 3 watts of power. The SnapDragon chip set also contains a 600MHz digital signal processor, and offers connectivity to mobile broadband technologies including CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000), 1xEVDO (Evolution-Data Only), HSDPA/HSUPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access/High Speed Uplink Packet Access), as well as mobile TV, Bluetooth, GPS (Global Positioning System), and WLAN (wireless-LAN). The company is gunning for Intel's business with the new chips, but it's tough to compare processors made by the two companies. Scorpion is an Arm-based processor and has its own instruction set, which offers substantial energy savings but does not share the main advantage of x86 chips made by Intel: software. A lot more software has been developed around the x86 instruction set than any other processor, in fact, the entire library of software for PCs. Alongside Intel's 800MHz A110, the company offers the 600MHz A100, which also consumes 3 watts. Rival Via Technologies recently announced an x86-based processor that runs at 500MHz and consumes up to a maximum of 1 watt, or 0.1 watts in idle mode. The 1GHz version of that chip,Â the Eden ULV, consumes a maximum of 3.5 watts. Still, device makers have a chance to try out SnapDragon now, and its low power consumption and wireless functions could aid in the development of new categories of mobile devices. Â
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Competitively priced, too Intel has followed the launch of its first mobile Core 2 Extreme processor with a handful of desktop CPUs that support the chip giant's 1333MHz frontside bus upgrade.â¦
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InfoWorld - Intel may deliver WiMax technology more quickly to mobile users by including it as an option for ultramobile devices based on the company's Menlow platform, according to an Intel executive.
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The chipmaker gets another extension to address charges that it cut prices below costs in anticompetitive practices.