Don Clark | June 03, 2008
INTEL is heavily promoting a new breed of pocket-size portable devices as a future market for its chips.
The HTC Shift, above, a tiny ultraportable PC
Its competitors now hope to reap the benefits.
Nokia's N810 WiMAX Edition is an early example of the products known as mobile internet devices.
Chip suppliers for mobile phones are moving rapidly to make products for these gadgets, dubbed MIDs.
The contenders include Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Samsung, and others that license technology from ARM Holdings, a mobile phone player.
There is a new entrant: Nvidia, Intel's crosstown rival in Santa Clara, California.
Known for chips that manage graphics in computers, Nivida has moved into producing chips for MIDs.
The company already sells graphics chips for mobile phones, and recently began combining that technology with components that include an ARM application processor, which provides calculating functions akin to those of Intel's microprocessors.
Nvidia describes its new Tegra chip for MIDs as a "computer on a chip" that will be particularly good for tasks such as watching videos and playing games.
Mike Rayfield, general manager of the company's mobile unit, estimates a device built around his company's new chip can play 26 hours of high-definition video on a single battery charge, compared with four hours using a new Intel chip, called Atom.
Nvidia's announcement is pegged for a conference this week in Taiwan called Computex, at which Intel and its customers plan to show off machines built on the company's technology.
Anand Chandrasekher, the Intel senior vice-president in charge of its ultramobility group, estimates the Atom chip has been selected for 30-plus devices that will start hitting the market by the end of this month.
He estimates typical battery life of Atom-based products at four to six hours, which is fine for many users.
Intel plans to deliver a successor chip by 2010 that will draw one-tenth the power and offer more usage per battery charge.
"It's not surprising that our competitors would enter the fray," Mr Chandrasekher said. "We think the pie will be big enough that there will be plenty for multiple players."
Users of ARM's technology say they've been slicing off big chunks of the emerging market already.
Qualcomm chief operating officer Sanjay Jha estimates that 15 MIDs are being developed using its chips.
Seshu Madhavapeddy, general manager of a new Texas Instruments business unit targeting the MID market, says its latest chip has been selected for 40 devices including MIDs and smartphones.
He said he couldn't provide a precise count for MIDs, since customers didn't always provide details of their plans.
MIDs are a loosely defined category. The term is generally applied to devices that are smaller than a laptop and larger than a cellphone, and that connect to the internet wirelessly using either WiFi or cellular data technology.
Apple Computer's iPhone and iPod touch are considered early examples, as is Nokia's recently introduced N810 device.
Other devices are expected to evolve from existing product categories, such as portable gaming or navigation devices, Samsung semiconductor unit strategic marketing director Richard Yeh says.
Besides battery life, perhaps the biggest point of contention among chip makers is whether the x86 chip design Intel popularised in personal computers has advantages over its ARM-based competitors.
Mr Chandrasekher said most new web-based software was developed for PCs long before it was adapted for ARM chips, giving portables based on that technology a second-rate internet experience.
That was changing quickly, said Tudor Brown, ARM's chief operating officer.
In one major development, Adobe Systems - whose Flash software is used in such popular sites as Google's YouTube - recently announced an effort called the Open Screen Project to bring users consistent experiences with the company's software across PCs, cellphones, MIDs and other devices.
"That has really levelled the playing field," Mr Brown said.
The Wall Street Journal