14 DAY TRIAL // Depending on how the demand for ultra-thin notebooks evolved, Intel was planning on soon launching a new line of central processing units intended for this race of ultraportable but not so overly powerful mobile computers. Unfortunately, unlike netbooks, such products, because their light and thin frame always comes at a, sometimes high, cost to performance, did not meet marketing expectations in 2009 and dropped in popularity even more over the past few months. As such, according to a report by Digitimes, the Santa Clara chip maker will be putting off these chips until the latter part of the ongoing year and will focus on its other venues for the time being.
Over the course of last year, ultra-thin notebooks accounted for only ten to 15% of the total notebook shipments for most PC suppliers. This percentage was quite low compared with the 20-30% they had hoped for.
This has led to reduced orders for new chips, as notebook players attempt to digest their current inventories. Acer, as an entity especially affected by this phenomenon (because of its focus on laptops), has halted production of ultra-thins while it focuses on the more popular Calpella-based notebooks, such as the Timeline X line.
Digitimes’ sources expect that, as a result of notebook players clearing their ultra-thin laptop inventories, the ASP in Taiwan will drop US$32-95 (NT$1,000-3,000) in the second quarter. It is also mentioned that, according to Asustek Computer Vice President Tony Chen, ultra-thin demand is still strong in China and especially Taiwan, where the line makes up 40% of all notebook shipments, but, worldwide, such systems only make up 15% of ASUS' total shipments.
Currently, Intel's reported plan is to wait until the third quarter and, even then, only launch the chips if market demand is strong enough. Unfortunately, the Santa Clara, California-based company did not officially comment on unannounced products.