Intel originally made the bold claim a couple of months ago, but now it says it is on track to hit its target. This is after reporting mixed fourth-quarter financial results, posting higher-than-expected revenue amid “stabilisation” in the PC market. Chipzilla has been also banging on about wearable computers which it expects to be the new big thing.
Of course, Krzanich was saying all this on Fox telly which means that he does not have to explain why he thinks that things are improving or why he believes that wearable computers will be the next big thing. People who watch Fox do so because they have outsourced their thinking to a right wing news organisation.
Many people think Intel has a long way to go before it makes any real inroads into the mobile market. This would be true if it were not for Intel's financial muscle. The company is said to be burning a lot of money in an effort to get more vendors on board, effectively subsidising the cost of Bay Trail-T SoCs. Intel calls it contra-revenue and the chipmaker has already made it clear that "most" of its tablet related projects in 2014 will have some contra-revenue attached to them.
Krzanich explained what the programme is all about in January and you can check it out here. Intel doesn't exactly like it when the tech press describes its efforts as subsidies, so let's just agree to call them "almost subsidies." Sounds better than contra-revenue.
