CES 2012: Intel taking on ARM for share of smartphone market

The strategy to take on a market dominated by chips using ARM designs, was announced at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012). Motorola will begin shipping devices in the second half of 2012 using Intel Atom processors and the Android platform, while Otellini showed off the K800, a new smartphone from Chinese pc manufacturer, Lenovo. The smartphone uses a 'Medfield' generation of Intel's low power Atom processors, previously used in netbook computers. Intel president and ceo, Paul Otellini, believes the collaboration with Motorola Mobility will help accelerate the company's architecture into new mobile market segments: "When great silicon and software technology meets great mobile and design innovation, amazing things can happen," he said. "We expect the combination of our companies to break new ground and bring the very best of computing capabilities to smartphones and tablets, which in turn will help to create powerful new experiences that connect and enrich people's lives wherever they may be." As well as smartphones, the two companies will develop tablets, using Intel's low power SoCs as well as utilising each other's hardware, software technologies in a bid to provide longer battery life, increased computing performance, advanced imaging and video capabilities and seamless wireless connections. Motorola Mobility's chairman and ceo, Sanjay Jha, added: "There are 5billion mobile subscribers in the world, less than 800million are using a smartphone today. With Android as the leading smartphone OS globally and advancements in computing technology, we see tremendous opportunity for the converged devices market."