Entering the tablet fray

CNet columnist Brooke Crothers, wrote this week that “Intel is wasting precious time waiting for its ‘partners’ to build the equivalent of an iPad and iPhone," and that Intel should build its own tablet.

Crothers seems impatient for someone, anyone, to bring some competition to  Apple’s tablet. He said Intel had the wherewithal to produce compelling products and should “short circuit” the process of watching OEM partners “prattle about Intel-based tablets, then do nothing.”

In most computing markets, he said, Intel of course can’t produce its own branded products because we would compete with products from our OEM customers, not to mention attract charges of dominating those market segments. But, he said, tablets and smartphones are different.

“In these markets, Intel does not carry the clout (potential for big revenue streams) as it does in PCs...In tablets and smartphones, Intel is just another chipmaker—and not seen as competitive to boot,” he wrote.

He noted that there’s a lot of design expertise at Intel, and that some of the first eye-catching ultra-thin laptop designs came from Intel. And the hiring of former Palm executive Mike Bell increases that expertise even more.

He agrees with Intel execs who say tablets aren’t eating into PC sales. But he asked, “Will Intel keep saying this while slowly consigning itself to insignificance in some of the most interesting newfangled device markets?”

Comments

[Andy Idsinga]

Hey Charlton - have you ever heard about the Intel Web Tablet? We worked on this back in 99-01:
http://www.smecc.org/intel_webpad.htm

I don't post it to suggest Intel should or shouldn't try a tablet again ... but there is an interesting history there :)

Cheers!