Intel Bets 2012 on Ultrabooks
The first ultrabooks are out of the gate and it appears that Intel can breathe a sigh of relief. However, Intel will be making sure that the market development will stay on track and will be funding the segment accordingly.
Senior vice president Tom Kilroy told Forbes that ultrabooks will be at the center of the company's biggest marketing campaign in 2012. After ultrabooks were somewhat slow to gain traction, Intel announced in August that it would support innovation with $300 million the company would provide through its Intel capital VC arm. Kilroy did not say how much marketing money Intel will sink into ultrabooks next year.
Intel is depending on ultrabooks to become successful and to help pick up chip sales that netbooks are losing. So far, Intel isn't selling many chips into the tablet segment. However, even with a PC market that has slowed down dramatically, Intel knows that the PC market remains by far the more attractive opportunity for processor sales over the next few years. The best argument for developing the PC market is that Intel does not have to make any bets and decide which market forecast for tablets they trust: the PC market already exists and no bets have to be made.
If the ultrabook market takes off, it may be far more lucrative for Intel than selling lower-margin processors into the tablet segment in the near future.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Wolfgang Gruener is an experienced professional in digital strategy and content, specializing in web strategy, content architecture, user experience, and applying AI in content operations within the insurtech industry. His previous roles include Director, Digital Strategy and Content Experience at American Eagle, Managing Editor at TG Daily, and contributing to publications like Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware.
-
yzfr1guy Ultawhat? UltraFail? There's too many darn gadgets for crying out loud,I know we humans thrive on technology but come on, another market for devices that'll soon be forgotten all in the name to replace the personal computer? PfffReply -
stryk55 This seems like one of the riskier things Intel has done in the past few years, relatively speaking of course. Ultrabooks (like tablets and netbooks) seem to be a niche market that may or may not take off. Their Atom platform to use in netbooks was a little underwhelming and I've seen the number of netbooks at retail stores slowly begin to dwindle away.Reply -
RipperjackAU vaughn2kUltra books with Atom... sheesH!Reply
Unless the Ultra books come with THIS Atom:
Then yea... Not interested! -
leandrodafontoura What happens after everyone in the world already has a notebook/ultrabook...what intel is gonna do??Reply -
rottingsheep overpriced.Reply
i'm still wishing for a day when laptops become as configurable as a desktop pc.