
Intel's CEO says its costly tablet chip strategy has paid off - arms77
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/us-intel-krzanich-idUSKBN0H41RW20140909?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews
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rasz_pl
I think he meant "Intel paid off a lot of Chinese manufacturer to make them
start using Atoms", and it only cost them $2B so far.

[http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/186367-intels-mobile-
divi...](http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/186367-intels-mobile-division-has-
lost-an-astonishing-2-billion-dollars-so-far-this-year)

[http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/anton-shilov/intel-
sel...](http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/anton-shilov/intel-sells-quad-
core-atom-for-tablets-for-5-per-chip-report/)

Their biggest success is some fly by nights nonames announcing one off $65
tablets.

~~~
slantyyz
>> Their biggest success is some fly by nights nonames announcing one off $65
tablets.

How about the Dell Venue 8 Pro?

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cottonseed
"its costly tablet chip strategy paid off" ...

> "the company's mobile and communications group's second-quarter revenue fell
> 83 percent to $51 million, and the unit had an operating loss of $1.12
> billion"

~~~
PhantomGremlin
Bingo. That's the money quote. If you hadn't posted it first, I was going to.
They're spending/subsidizing nearly $22 for each $1 of revenue.

Intel is taking lessons from Microsoft in how to waste billions of dollars in
futile endeavors.

~~~
fpgeek
It's not necessarily futile. If Intel can grab enough of a slice of the
Android tablet market that developers of Android apps that use significant
native code start caring about x86 Android... all sorts of opportunities open
up for them.

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shaurz
You think Shenzhen Cheapo Tablet Co., Ltd. will keep using them when they
start charging them the full price? Hahaha!

I think Intel underestimates the level of churn and ruthlessness of the
market. This ain't no Wintel meal ticket.

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jbarham
I recently saw a billboard here in Melbourne for an Asus tablet with an Intel
CPU:
[https://twitter.com/john_e_barham/status/492146297416077312](https://twitter.com/john_e_barham/status/492146297416077312).

What struck me as bizarre was although the billboard had the "Intel Inside"
slogan repeated at least 3 times, nowhere did it mention what OS the tablet
ran, and the screenshots were basically generic stock photos with no apps in
sight. As it happens the tablet runs Android but I can imagine that some of
the people suckered into buying it will be annoyed that it can't play many of
the games on Google Play since they'd be developed with the ARM NDK.

The whole thing struck me more as an effort to extract money from Intel's
marketing budget than as a sincere effort to sell the actual tablet.

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pankajdoharey
Intel has a horrible horrible architecture, I really dont want to see it win
over ARM Architecture which is open and superior, and wastes a lot less DIE
area just for instructions that Intel Does.

~~~
Guthur
The real issue is if Intel will be able to buy dominance through deep pockets.
On a even playing field then the better arch would win.

ARMs business model might allow them to weather the initial storm while
advancing their core architecture; their 2013 balance sheet was good, with low
liabilities and high earnings. Not even Intel can keep buying market share
indefinitely.

~~~
Andys
If Intel is buying market share by making superior products using fancy
transistors, expensive fabs, and clever designs.... its not exactly bad for us
consumers.

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PopsiclePete
Yes. ARM is shaking in their boots. The Atom will dominate all. It will happen
right around the time Slackware destroys Windows 9.

