Hi Paul, RE: "To some extent, that's true."
And precisely why Intel didn't get the early design wins.
And look where Intel is now - they have to wait until the PDA folks change their designs. That's not good.
RE: "But look at the Palm Pilots and the Visor Handspring - they are using processors from 3 or 4 years ago - maybe more - which are virtually obsolete - yet they seem to be years away from making any substantive changes in CPU processing power."
Your point about the number of years they have designed for use a particular processor, is dead-on accurate. A point that Intel really, really needs to keep in mind: this is NOT the PC market, where Intel can play catch up in a quarter. In the PDA market, there is a different power dynamic than the PC OEM market, so Intel needs to make sure its marketing plans factor that in - the same PC formula may not work.
However, unlike what you had implied, at this point, I don't think the PDAs are years away from using Intel chips. I think you can expect to see some more design wins here. Why do you think otherwise - do you see something wrong that I don't see?
But there's a lesson for Intel: don't be late on the next wave of PDAs. As you had correctly suggested, history has shown it takes a lot of time for the PDA folks to change their processors. Intel really, really needs to remember that.
Intel missed the first wave, and I don't want to see that happen again. The first time miss, I can definitely understand, because it's not good for Intel to waste resources entering what could have been a false-market. But there would be no excuse for a second time. The low-end market has really taken off, so this is not a false market.
But my main point and question is:
How does Intel stack up to Hitachi (and I don't just mean a product comparison on the latest/next chips where I believe Intel is reasonably well-equipped, but how do they differ in their overall-company strategies and competitive edges?)
i.e. what traits do each have, that will stand the test of time? Intel has excellent manufacturing. How does Hitachi compare in this area?
Regards,
Amy J |
