Intel Corp will introduce a chip that’s designed to offer improved battery life in touch-screen computers.
SAN FRANSISCO: Intel Corp, aiming to accelerate a stalled entrance into the market for tablet chips, will introduce a chip that's designed to offer improved battery life in touch-screen computers.
The new product, called Oak Trail and sold under Intel's Atom brand, is 60 per cent smaller than its predecessor and will provide "all-day" battery life in touch-screen computers, the Santa Clara, California-based company said. The chip, which Intel plans to unveil at its Developer Forum in Beijing, is already shipping to computer makers and will appear in 35 machines by the end of the year.
Intel, whose processors power more than 80 per cent of the world's personal computers, has failed to convert that dominance into even 1 percent of market share in tablet computers, according to International Data Corp, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based technology research company. Previously, Intel didn't have a chip capable of fitting into the slim body of a tablet, and its existing chips used too much battery power.
Oak Trail "gets Intel into the game with a tablet-centric product," Bill Kircos, general manager of marketing for the company's newly formed Netbook and Tablet Group, said in an interview last week.
Apple Inc's iPad runs on chips based on ARM Holdings Plc's technology, which helped ARM gain 99 per cent market share in 2010, IDC said. That share will decline "only a few points" this year, the researcher said this month.
Lenovo, Fujitsu Intel's Kircos said Lenovo Group Ltd and Fujitsu Ltd are among device makers that will sell tablets based on the new chips. Intel's customers will begin offering tablets that feature Google Inc's Android, Microsoft Corp's Windows and its own MeeGo operating system.
Separately, Intel will speed up the introduction of future tablet-chip designs on more advanced manufacturing, bringing their release schedule in line with its computer chips, said Kircos. That will help Intel close the gap with its rivals in standby battery life. Oak Trail is already competitive in the amount of power it draws from a battery or other sources when the portable computers are used heavily, he said.
Intel fell 1 cent to $20.02 on April 8 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Before today, the company's shares were down 4.8 per cent this year.
Intel Vice President Doug Davis, who leads its attempts to break into the tablet market, will present the chip in Beijing today.