14 DAY TRIAL // Reports are, as always, running about, and it looks like Intel is especially scrutinized this once, as its supposed plan for the Android tablet market is said to have been exposed, to some extent at least.
Intel is always working on something, sometimes more avidly than usual, and it appears this is one of those times.
When the market is progressing as expected, there isn't much cause for large-scale IT players to change their strategies much.
However, when a product type turns out to be more disruptive than originally anticipated, even the biggest fish have to swim faster.
Tablets are this year's disruptive gadget, to the point where netbooks are suffering in terms of sales.
In fact, low-end laptop sales, while still strong, have been declining each month, soliciting price revisions and better hardware.
Not long ago, Intel itself was said to have decided on a project that would take netbooks to under $200 in price.
Considering that it was only days ago that cheap netbook became synonymous, more or less, with $350, this is a very significant leap.
Now, the same source, Digitimes that is, says that the Santa Clara, California-based product has also decided on its Android 3.0-related tactic.
Known as the PRC Plus plan, it involves promoting an Android 3.0-compatible hardware platform with performance advantages over ARM ones.
Intel has been in talks with Google for about six months now and wants to improve the user interface of the operating system.
The Oak Trail Atom Z670 has already been delivered, meaning that Oak Trail slates, along with netbooks, will be coming out quite regularly.
Acer, Lenovo and ASUS are three of the IT companies that have lent their support in this endeavor, while Cisco will handle promotion of Oak Trail devices with Android 3.0 on the enterprise market.