Washington: Intel is beginning to take smartphone and tablet chips seriously after the company announced it formed a unit dedicated to the mobile cause.
The move consolidates four separate product groups.
The new group will be led by two executives. One is Mike Bell, who previously worked at Apple and Palm Inc. The other is Hermann Eul, who came to Intel in 2010 when it bought Infineon and most recently led a group called “Mobile Communications.”
The move comes about a year after Intel made a similar move by creating a unit to focus on networks and tablets.
Intel is trying to find new revenue streams after a slowdown in the PC market as users shift to tablets and smartphones.
Intel-based smartphones and tablets are expected to come to market in the first half of 2012; these devices will feature the Medfield Atom chips, and will support Google Android, Windows, and MeeGo operating systems. Intel is also pushing its “Ultrabook” notebook concept—thin and light notebooks with tablet-like features such as longer battery life and touch—that will utilize chips based on Intel’s 3-D Tri-Gate transistor architecture.
