US chipmaker takes on industry giants in mobile-device market

BEIJING - Intel Corp introduced its first processor for the burgeoning tablet PC market in China on Tuesday.

The launch of the tablet-specific Atom sees the US-based semi-conductor manufacturer going head-to-head with Apple Inc and Britain's ARM Holdings Ltd in the mobile-devices market.

Intel said that it may also produce smartphone processors as it focuses on the personal-computing sector.

The mobile-device market is the most important one for Intel this year. The company said that it is placing great emphasis on research and development of mobile-device processors, and also applications and platform development, to build a "mobile-computing ecosystem".

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Doug Davis, vice-president of Intel, said that the company will increase its product line over the next three years.

According to an earlier report in The New York Times, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said that the company will also examine opportunities in the handset market.

Davis did not provide information on potential partnerships, but according to Chinese media reports, ZTE Corp may become Intel's smartphone partner.

Intel launched a processor for South Korea-based LG Electronics Inc last year, but it failed to make an impression on the market.

"It is a doomed trend for the market to move toward mobile devices such as tablet PCs and smartphones," said Wang Jiping, a senior analyst from the US-based research company, IDC.

He said that because it (mobile devices) is a new market, the major players are still new to the industry.

If Intel could successfully integrate hardware and software, then it would have a competitive advantage, Wang said.

Renee James, senior vice-president and general manager of the Intel Software and Services Group, said that the company has established a partnership with Tencent Holdings Ltd, the Chinese Internet conglomerate, to create a joint innovation center to research the nation's mobile-device market.

According to James, engineers from both companies will work together, with Tencent focusing on its specialty - game development - for Intel.

The US company will launch its application center, Intel AppUp, in China by the end of this year to compete with Apple's App Store and Google Inc's Android market, Christos Georgiopoulos, vice-president of Intel's Software and Services Group told China Daily.

At present, AppUp can support only laptops and netbooks.

In the United States, Intel AppUp already has more than 3,000 applications, but they will need to be localized for the Chinese market, Georgiopoulos said.

Intel currently collaborates with Chinese companies and government bureaus, including the biggest domestic software-outsourcing company Neusoft Group Ltd, the electronic product maker Haier Group, and Shenzhen city's Futian Bureau of Science and Technology.