FEATURE/Intel Celebrates the Industry's 1 Billionth PC
Processor Innovation, Emerging Markets Will Fuel Growth to the Second Billion PCs
(Note: A backgrounder, fact sheet and four-color timeline are available at www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/events/billionthpc.)
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--July 1, 2002-- When it comes to the PC, science fiction has become science fact.
When introduced some 25 years ago, PCs were big and clunky, and performed simple word processing and basic spreadsheet functions. Today, the home PC is a powerful all-in-one digital jukebox, movie studio, photo darkroom and electronic game board.
For companies worldwide, the PC has brought unprecedented productivity and efficiency to the way business is done. With a PC connected to the Internet, it's possible for even the smallest company to sell products and provide customer service around the clock and around the globe. In the past two decades, technology innovation and the expansion of the Internet have changed the future of computing -- a billion times over.
1 Billion PCs and Counting
Industry analyst firm Gartner Dataquest announced today that the PC industry has shipped the 1 billionth PC. The industry reached this notable milestone in April 2002, roughly 25 years after the debut of the first commercially successful and widely available personal computer, the 1974 Altair powered by the Intel® 8080 chip.
Intel's contribution to the evolution of personal computing began with its 1971 invention of the microprocessor, often referred to as the brain of the PC. From the Intel 8080 chip used in the Altair to the 4.77 MHz Intel® 8088 processor that powered the watershed IBM PC in 1981, this historic path of innovation has brought us today to the era of the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, the world's fastest processor. PCs based on the Pentium 4 processor at 2.53 GHz deliver higher performance for digital media and enriched multi-tasking user experiences.
Today, PCs are in roughly 60 percent of U.S. households, followed by 49 percent in Western Europe and 38 percent in Asia Pacific.** At the end of last year, nearly half a billion people around the world had access to the Internet from their homes.*** In 2001, more than $615 billion in revenue was generated worldwide from e-Commerce transactions.**** In its journey to the 1 billion milestone, the PC has profoundly changed the way companies transact business and how people communicate, shop, learn, access information and entertain themselves.
The 1 billionth PC is likely enabling its owner to do a variety of things once thought of as science fiction. Today, people rely on PCs to send e-mail and instant messages, surf the Web, manage a household budget and family calendar, edit home movies and burn them onto DVDs, mix music, create photo albums with narration and mood music, play action-packed games, and engage in a host of other compelling new uses.
"The PC is so versatile and so good at so many things," said Martin Reynolds, vice president at Gartner Dataquest and author of the analyst firm's report on the 1 billionth PC. "It's become something that almost everybody has to have."
Another Billion PCs in Six Years
Gartner Dataquest calculates that the next billion PCs could ship far faster than the ones that came before. In 2008, the PC industry is projected to reach the milestone of 2 billion PCs, with the greatest growth opportunity coming from high-volume emerging markets in places such as China, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Intel believes that as technology goes increasingly global, the focus must remain on developing the faster, more powerful processor technologies that users covet, while enabling "anytime, anywhere" computing and making PCs more intuitive and easier to use.
"Today, humans have to work with computers on the computers' terms," explained Pat Gelsinger, Intel vice president and chief technology officer. "Tomorrow, we want to make computers work with humans on their terms. That vision includes developing PCs that can recognize speech, gestures and video, and it means achieving breakthroughs that will make the interaction between people and computers a truly immersive experience."
As the industry heads toward 2 billion PCs and beyond, Intel will continue working with industry allies to enhance the future of computing by applying technological innovation to foster a model in which all computers communicate, and all communication devices integrate some degree of intelligence.
"Ultimately, we envision a world in which billions of people are seamlessly connected to the Internet, all the time and anywhere, with a rich set of services that are enabled by wireless technologies," Gelsinger said. "We see this model empowering people by providing them with compelling tools for social, cultural, economic and political change."
A World of Potential
Gartner's analysis of the 1 billion PC mark, which represents the combined desktop and laptop shipments of all chip and PC manufacturers worldwide, offers good cause for the industry to continue advancing the vision of computing.
"You've got to look at the computer as a power tool for the mind," Reynolds said. "In the industrial revolution, we learned how to take machines and leverage human physical effort to gain great economic advantage. The PC brings the same advantage to people's minds."
Intel's vision for shaping the future of the PC industry includes ongoing advances in ease of use, compact form factor, support for new usage models and mobility, all of which resonate with consumers and business users in mature markets as well as their counterparts in emerging markets.
"At Intel, we passionately want to deliver the technologies that change the world," Gelsinger said. "If you consider that PC technologies today have touched a billion people, that's fairly impressive. But there are 5 billion lives that we haven't touched yet. And we are driven every day by the opportunity to deliver the innovations that will reach the vast worldwide population of potential users of our technology."
Intel also continues to meet user needs by addressing such areas as speed, performance and enhanced security. Within a few years, Intel envisions PCs evolving into personal gateways to people and services, a reflection of the current industry move toward a connected environment in which the PC performs much of the user's work and is integrated into virtually all aspects of daily life.
About Intel
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.
Note to Editors: Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
** Computer Industry Almanac, 3/02
*** Nielsen//NetRatings, 3/02
**** eStatNews, 1/02
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Contact:
Intel
Linda Bonniksen, 503/264-2927
linda.f.bonniksen@intel.com |
