Armed and dangerous
The theme of the current IDF (Intel developer forum) in Taipei is, not for the first time, the internet on mobile devices. Intel demonstrated its next generation low power platform - Moorestown - on Monday, which Intel hopes will make it a major player in the mobile device/mobile phone market.
Yesterday, to illustrate why we all need Moorestown and the current low power option - Atom (codenamed Menlow) - , a couple of Intel execs chose to dwell on the shortcomings they perceive in the Apple iPhone and, being careful to exonerate Apple itself, to blame them on their ARM-based CPUs.
"The shortcomings of the iPhone are not because of Apple," said Pankaj Kedia, a director of Intel's ultra-mobility group. "The shortcomings of the iPhone have come from ARM." Kedia went on to make it clear that he thinksthis is a problem affecting all ARM-based smartphones.
ARM won't necessarily be a familiar name to many consumers as it operates mainly as a design partner for other processor makers. They pay UK-based ARM a license fee in order to be able to use their chip design intellectual property (IP) and that's where ARM's active involvement often ends.
The thing is, most of the companies that make processors for mobile phones use ARM IP and Intel wants them to use Intel architecture. So it stands to reason that Intel would want to compare itself favourably to the dominant player in a market it covets.
