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A battle of chips
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Mobile Internet devices - smaller than laptops and larger than cell phones - are expected to rack up billions of dollars in sales, putting companies such as Qualcomm and Intel on a collision course
By Jonathan Sidener
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 3, 2008
The prototype device in the hands of Qualcomm executive Sanjay Jha looks like a sleek, ultraportable laptop. It boasts an 8.9-inch screen and full-size keyboard.
NIGEL TREBLIN / Getty Images
Chips from Intel's new Atom line are capable of powering gadgets that fit in a purse or pocket.
One obvious thing it lacks is a sticker saying “Intel Inside.”
The computer runs on what is essentially a powerful cell phone processor from Qualcomm's new Snapdragon line.
Meanwhile, in Santa Clara, Intel's Pankaj Kedia has been showing off gadgets that fit in a purse or pocket and are capable of making phone calls. They run on what is basically a scaled-down laptop chip from Intel's new Atom line.
Somewhere between e-mail-and Web-capable phones and diminutive, lightweight laptops lies an emerging class of electronics called mobile Internet devices, or MIDs. It is an arena expected to grow to a multibillion-dollar market by next year, which explains why Qualcomm and Intel are straying from their core markets of cell phones and computers.
Although the Intel-coined acronym MID is catching on with many in the industry, Qualcomm pointedly avoids it, referring instead to “pocketable computing devices” and “mobile computing devices.”
JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune
Qualcomm's Snapdragon, is essentially a powerful cell phone processor and will be used in what Qualcomm calls "pocketable computing devices" and "mobile computing devices."
Whatever you call them, the mobile Internet devices are expected to be popular with teens and young adults living the always-on, MySpace lifestyle as well as with traveling professionals who want larger screens for viewing Web pages.
Other companies are eyeing the MID market, including Qualcomm rival Texas Instruments and computer graphics chip giant Nvidia. But the collision course between Qualcomm and Intel is drawing the most attention.
Qualcomm recently passed Texas Instruments as the top cell phone chip maker and is now the ninth-largest overall chip maker in the world. Intel is the long-standing top chip maker in the world.
“Qualcomm was smart enough to pass Texas Instruments as the top cell phone chip company, so it makes people wonder if they're smart enough to pick Intel off,” said Will Strauss, president of Arizona semiconductor market research firm Forward Concepts.
Strauss, whose firm forecasts 40 million MIDs sold for $12 billion in 2012, sees a few defining characteristics that separate MIDs from smartphones and ultraportable laptops.
JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune
Sanjay Jha, Qualcomm's chief operating officer and president of its CDMA Technologies Group, showed off a prototype device that runs on the company's Snapdragon chip.
First, the devices have to have a high-resolution screen larger than 4 inches, which rules out the iPhone and BlackBerry devices. A smaller screen results in too much panning and zooming to view a Web page, Strauss said.
MIDs also require a high-speed cellular data connection, he said. Devices such as the iPod touch can surf the Web using a Wi-Fi connection, but a true MID needs a network connection beyond the Wi-Fi hot spots, Strauss said.
He expects that Intel will do well with the devices that are similar to laptops while Qualcomm and Texas Instruments will have an edge with the pocket-size devices.
For Qualcomm, experienced in making chips for devices with small batteries, low power consumption will be an advantage.
The company licenses technology from ARM Ltd., whose processors dominate the market for low-power devices such as mobile gaming systems, media players and cell phones.
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