Intel to merge struggling mobile chip unit into its PC chip business

hexus.net ^ | 18 November 2014, 11:05 | by Mark Tyson

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Intel CEO Brain Krzanich has announced, in an email sent to employees on Monday, new company plans to merge its loss-making mobile chip unit with its profitable PC business early next year, writes the Wall Street Journal. "The market continues to evolve rapidly, and we must change even faster to stay ahead," Krzanich asserted in the email.

It is well known that Intel has struggled to gain a foothold in mobile computing, but even worse for the business its tablet and smartphone chip-making division has lost billions in the recent months. Intel's mobile communication group posted a $1 billion operating loss in the third quarter of 2014, with revenues sliding to just $1 million from $353 million in the same period a year ago. In contrast, the company's PC business posted an operating profit of $4.12 billion, and a 9 per cent increase in revenue to $9.19 billion.

The reorganisation of the two units reflects not only Intel's efforts to expand its chip sales for mobile devices, but also a changing market in which the lines dividing consumer electronics devices blur, and it becomes evident that tablets and laptops are converging. "The lines are blurring between PCs, tablets, phablets and phones," Chuck Mulloy, Intel's spokesman said. "The idea is to accelerate the implementation and create some efficiency so that we can move even faster."

[spokeshave]

Russian proverb....

When you are on thin ice...run raster.

[GeronL]

I don’t think I like the idea of PC’s being possibly dumbed down by stuff like this.

[Cowboy Bob]

Who names their kid Brain?

[MrEdd]

How is a unit garnishing increasing market share “struggling?”

Oh yeah. The same way a strong arm robber who weighs just short of three hundred pounds is “an unarmed teenager.”

[adorno]

I don’t think I like the idea of PC’s being possibly dumbed down by stuff like this.

I see the opposite.

Tablets and smartphones are being "smartened" up to become more like PCs, while PCs remain the major go-to device for real computing and major projects.

Tables are "growing up" to be come PCs. Smartphones are becoming more like tablets, with better specs and bigger screens, and more powerful cpus. PCs are still getting better, and more powerful.

But, in the not-so-distant future, I could see where there might be just one device serving all purposes, from smartphone to tablets to PC function. When the processors are the major defining component, then, when that component becomes powerful enough to drive all form-factors, we will have reached the merging of all platforms. The difference will "only" be in the equipment or peripherals that the main processing unit can converse with, from small screens to 80 inch screens, along with huge internal memory and large external storage devices. Imagine having just one device and one platform, for all of your computing needs, without sacrificing in power or capabilities.

[MrEdd]

PC won’t be dumbed down.

14nm intel chipsets should be hitting the shelves late in the second quarter.
At the end of 2013 the 22nm Bay Trail chipsets gave us full windows 8.1 machines in an eight inch tablet form factor. I have an Asus Vivotab Note 8 and its nice. 14nm will give us the potential for Windows 10 on a phablet.

[GeronL]

I had a thought about dumb terminals being everywhere and people would plus a USB-like device in them, the device would have the processor, RAM and the memory.

[GeronL]

Maybe this device would be the phone? Just connect it to the “dumb” monitor-keyboard

[MrEdd]

The phones connect to Bluetooth keyboards already. And a few high end phablets already have a mini HDMI port. They also have micro SD cards for expanded memory.

My tablet will connect to a powered USB hub. That gives me wired keyboards and external hard drives.

All that is needed is more processing power on the phone.

[Erik Latranyi]

Check out the Microsoft Surface Pro 3.....a Macbook Air in a touchscreen tablet-PC. Full Windows, Office, PhotoShop, etc with the power of a desktop.

[MrEdd]

http://tablets.findthebest.com/compare/679-722/Asus-VivoTab-Note-8-vs-Microsoft-Surface-Pro-3

For me the deciding factor was what would fit in a large cargo pocket.
The Vivotab Note 8 was the smallest full windows tablet with a Wacom digitizer.

I am hoping that by June it won’t be any more.

[fuzzylogic]

We’re owned by Intel. In the embedded space there’s fierce competition, Intel just doesn’t provide the right solutions - we tell them but alas...

[adorno]

Maybe this device would be the phone? Just connect it to the “dumb” monitor-keyboard

It won't be the smartphone as it exists currently, but, it will be a powerful PC the size of a smartphone. The "phone" part of it will have to be detached, and probably be a separate wearable, like the "smartwatches" of today are and which depend on people carrying a smartphone to "operate" as the smarts for the smartwatch.

I can see the "future" PC itself being a wearable device, and which can actually be hidden and not even having to be touched or taken out of wherever it's kept on the body or purse or pocket or wallet. Your "PC" will go with you everywhere, and the peripherals will either be carried as separate wearables or can be remotely connected to (like storage device) or can be any device within proximity of the PC which can be connected to, like a TV set or monitor.

Reality is that, with cloud services, the PC of the future won't even need to contain the smarts that PCs have traditionally had. The "PC everywhere" will be like a "dumb" terminal, but much more powerful, with the power being supplied by remote computers and cloud services.

[MrEdd]

There is no reason whatsoever for the phone part to be detached.

There will also be smaller phones, but people are carrying around six and seven inch phones right now. 14nm dies will shrink a full windows machine to that form factor.

[Erik Latranyi]

You made a great choice in the VivoTab8!

[adorno]

There is no reason whatsoever for the phone part to be detached.

Perhaps not, but, it would be a lot more convenient to be using the "detached" phone component, while also using the phone's provider of service (the small form factor PC) for many other things at the same time. When a device is brought up to one's ears, the form factor becomes, mostly, just a phone. A PC that can serve as a PC and a tablet and that can be used as a "super-computer", should not be constrained to a simple phone, just because it carries the phone component internally.

[MrEdd]

Carrying more devices is not more convenient. Especially for people who either;

1. Don’t make many calls.
2. Make enough calls to use a headset anyway.

I am in category 1.

I carry my phone in the front pocket of a fishing shirt, opposite the Kindle in the other pocket. I use a headset so I can talk while working. The few calls I get are from management.

[adorno]

Where in my posts did I say that people would be carrying more devices?

I’m saying that people would be carrying just ONE device, or a PC in a pocket or hidden.

That “other devices” might just be wearable devices, which would be barely noticeable if at all. Watches and hearing aids are worn by people with not much by way of inconvenience. So, why not “peripheral” equipment which would serve as “eyes and ears”, while still being highly “wearable”?