Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor company, unveiled a new version of its Atom platform, promising lower power consumption, cheaper cost and smaller size to better target smartphones.
“Intel has delivered its first product that is opening the door ... in the smartphone market segment,” Anand Chandrasekher, general manager of Intel’s Ultra Mobility Group, said in a statement yesterday.
Intel aims to stake out a corner in the wireless market, replicating what it did for the netbook category it now almost completely dominates.
It said the new platform targets a range of computing devices, including high-end smartphones, tablets and other mobile handheld products.
But analysts point to an uphill battle against Nvidia Corp, Marvell and Qualcomm Inc, already making headway with cheaper, low-power processors based on designs by ARM Holdings.
Analysts have previously said that Intel’s chip-and-chipset platforms would be too power-hungry for portable consumer electronics and cellphones, when compared with rival platforms based on ARM architecture.
Intel said it has been able to cut the amount of power the chip uses on standby, between tasks, by more than 50 times and Chandrasekher told Reuters last year the power consumption was “very close” and almost matching that of rivals.
Meanwhile, Nokia Oyj and Microsoft Corp released the first software component from their partnership, seeking to challenge Research In Motion Ltd, the Canadian maker of BlackBerry handsets.
Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile, a component that shows smartphone users the availability of workplace colleagues and offers communications with them via e-mail, instant messaging or voice, is now available in Nokia’s online Ovi store, the companies said in a statement.
The software can be downloaded free from Nokia’s Ovi Store for the E72 and E52 smartphones in English and will be available in 18 more language versions by the end of this month.
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