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Playing catchup is tough when you're this far behind.
Some Windows PC notebook builders are calling for steep discounts from Intel as they don't think the promise of a $300 million ultrabook fund is enough… Having been quoted over $700 in parts to make an 11-inch model to square off against the MacBook Air, they didn't think the $999 target price would be achievable without help.
If the rest of the industry started a response to Apple's new designs immediately—instead of just mocking them the first two years—they'd be in a better position to compete when they realize Apple was right all along.
It's all about priorities: The most brilliant design on the HP Slate
You've got to hand it to the geniuses at HP, Microsoft and Intel. With so much riding on the HP Slate introduction—iPad breathing down their necks, last gasp for windows-based tablets—the designers busted their asses and found a way to get stickers on the hardware just like their ugly PC counterparts. Kudos, guys.
Meanwhile, I guess some company's designers are just lazy.
Intel admits iPad may dent PC sales
"We think tablets are exciting, and we fully welcome their arrival," the company said during the call. "Apple has done a wonderful job reinventing the category."
Don't worry, guys. I'm sure all it'll take to derail the iPad train is a faster processor.
Speaking of Apple Not Using Stickers On Macs
A recent New York Times article about various stickers on PCs reminded me of three years ago when a reporter asked Steve Jobs why Apple passed on the extra income afforded by Intel stickers on Macs:
Steve Jobs comes back to Apple and we all know what happened. Michael Dell comes back to Dell and, wow.
The SEC says that the company should have disclosed to investors that it was drawing on these reserves, but did not. And it claims that, at their peak, the exclusivity payments from Intel represented 76% of Dell’s quarterly operating income, which is a breathtaking figure.
It's bad enough Dell never did particularly well after Dell's return, but now we discover it would have been even worse had it not been for "accounting shenanigans" through the use of "cookie-jar reserves" made up of Intel's money.
Samsung disses ARM and iPads while praising Atom and whatever tablet they can grunt out next
"…but there is an even broader market for consumers who want an iPad format but also want more functionality, more grunt, more IO… While the ARM-based processor in the iPad is a great chip it’s not designed for crunching spreadsheets and all those other things that the traditional notebook does."
So says Emmanuele Silanesu, Samsung's Australian IT marketing manager.
The ARM processor was designed to get maximum "grunt" with minimum power draw and heat dissipation. It was designed to do what Intel's trying like crazy to do with the Atom processor now. With only partial success, if the performance of devices with Atom chips is any indication.
Apple has a great recent relationship with Intel, so why did they pass on the Atom for their mobile devices? You think Intel wasn't ready to give Apple a killer price? Of course they were. Apple passed because the chip's not there yet, and they knew it.
But you go right on "crunching spreadsheets" on your Q1, Mr. Silanesu. I just hope it's not the same spreadsheet used to determine if that Q1 would be a success.
Is There More Behind Dell's Discontinuation of 12-inch Netbooks?
Intel doesn’t like 12-inch netbooks because they are deep into dual core territory, where Intel has much healthier profit margins... Intel has put pressure on OEMs to build netbooks that have 10 inch or smaller screens.I don't doubt this -- and I'm not the only one -- but I believe Microsoft may have something to do with it as well. Windows 7 is almost here, and the "netbook" version (Starter Edition), is not available for netbooks with screens over 10 inches. In an article I wrote for GigaOM Pro (subscription required), I said that "[s]ome have called the strategy price-fixing. While that may be debated, at the very least it’s “hardware fixing.”" Without Starter, a 12 inch netbook requires at least Home Premium, and the associated price hike that takes it out of typical netbook territory. This is doubly true if Intel charges by screen size as TechCrunch states. These two corporations have made it all but impossible to build a 12-inch netbook for appreciably less than, say, a 13 inch cheap laptop. If a 13-inch laptop is only a little more then why wouldn't you prefer it? Because it's not a netbook. It's bigger, bulkier, much heavier, runs hotter and has much less battery life. If you just wanted a netbook a bit bigger than 10-inches, with a keyboard less cramped, a 12-inch could be perfect. Perhaps too perfect in Intel's and Microsoft's eyes.
