Intel seeks to gain foothold in tablet, smartphone markets

Despite no substantial presence in the smartphones and tablet PC sector, Intel is bullish about prospects in emerging markets like India.

R Ravichandran, director (sales and marketing group), Intel South Asia, said, "With notebook shipments continuing to rise in India and demand for new gadgets soaring, it's obvious PCs would continue to co-exist alongside tablets and other mobile computing devices, rather than fade away."

Intel, which has virtually no momentum in the mobile market, would roll out the next generation Atom processors on smartphones next year.

The company claims the market for smartphones and tablet PCs in India is a nascent one. "By next year, you will see Intel-powered tablet PCs supporting Windows 8, as well as smartphones that would support both Android and Windows.

The Indian market, too, would be ready to take off and we would be a part of it by then," said Ravichandran.

According to CyberMedia Research data, the tablet PC market in India is estimated at around 85,000 units, and nearly 12 million smartphones are expected to be sold in 2011.

Intel plans to fine-tune its strategy to put mainstream PCs in smaller boxes, the first iteration for which is the Ivybridge processor and the first-generation Ultrabook.

An Ultrabook, which looks like an Apple Macbook Air, has been introduced into the Indian market through vendors like Lenovo and Acer.

"The second iteration is Haswell and this processor, along with Windows 8, would enable Intel to put a mainstream PC into a tablet form factor," said Ravichandran.

This raises the question of whether Intel would come out with a mainstream PC product that fits into a smartphone in 2014-2015.

Intel certainly thinks so.

"By next year, Intel Atom-powered smartphones -- supporting Android and Windows -- would hit the Asian markets," Ravichandran said.

Earlier this year, Intel had announced a development

partnership with Google, through which all future Android releases would be optimised to take advantage of Intel's architecture.

With this new partnership, next-generation Google software would be open to ARM and Atom at the same time.

The company is also working with original design manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers to bring Atom-based phones to the market by 2012.

Though most tablet PCs use ARM processors --- Qualcomm and Nvidia --- Intel has decided to build its tablets using the Ultrabook.

The chipmaker, along with Mastercard, has signed a collaboration to enhance online shopping security and payment options, as internet shopping sees growth.

"We intend to enable users of Ultrabook devices to enjoy a secure e-commerce ecosystem on PCs.

"MasterCard would combine the company's PayPass payment system with Intel's Identity Protection Technology," said Ravichandran.

With steady PC growth in India, Intel believes the market would hold the key for the success of its Ultrabook PCs.

The strength of emerging markets, coupled with enterprise growth, offsets the expected weakness in mature market consumer computing demand, particularly in the US and Europe.

According to Intel estimates, six years ago, a person living in India would have to work more than 440 weeks to amass enough wages to buy a PC.

In 2010, the number of weeks dropped to less than 31.

In 2014, some estimate a decrease to about 10 weeks. Stacy Smith, Intel's chief financial officer, said, "Two out of every three PCs would be sold in emerging markets, and nearly two of every three PCs would be sold into the consumer segment."

In the third quarter of 2011, the desk-based and mobile PC market in India accounted for nearly 3.15 million units, a 13 per cent rise over the third quarter of 2010, according to Gartner.

"This growth was primarily driven by the mobile PC market, which grew 29 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2011," said Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst, Gartner.