Friday in an interview with InsideHW, AMD Vice President Leslie Sobon said that the company has no immediate plans for supporting a tablet PC, answering recent questions regarding its stance on the emerging iPad-charged market. Specifically, Sobon was asked if the Ontario platform could be used in the netbook and tablet sector, running a Microsoft-based OS.
"When you have around fifteen percent of market share, I think that the best way to serve your shareholders is to go after market share in your own market," Sobon said. "I think that we are looking upon tablets as we were looking upon netbooks. The only way for our competitor to grow is to grow the market, while as for us, we can grow by taking share on the mature markets."
As for the Ontario platform, Sobon said that AMD is in a good position to grab a share of the netbook market. "Frankly, “netbook” isn’t a good description anymore, since now, as you’ve seen, netbooks can do everything notebook can, but in a small form factor, and you no longer have to force that mobility and graphics trade-off," Sobon added.
AMD could eventually move into the tablet market, but only when its proven successful. Currently Apple's iPad is the only "slam-dunk" tablet, with the rest of the herd ready to stampede the market by the end of the year. Still, as Sobon points out, netbooks aren't as "sexy" as tablets, yet over 300 million will be sold this year alone.
