Let's assume, for the sake of conversation, that you are the world's largest processor maker. And still your PC sales rate is getting lower each passing day...What are you going to do about that?

Well, let's see ..You do a little market research and you find out that mobility and entertainment are the two things everybody longs for, so you put it all together and come up with VIIV platform.
That's your new perfect candidate for the position of "one-device show" for the entire family!

Well, at least that's what Intel did.

The initiative is quite interesting but not new.
Microsoft has invented the concept of "entertainment PC center" some time ago but that wasn't exactly a success.

Anyway, the VIIV description isn't very specific on whether VIIV PC are to be used just for watching movies, listening to music or for playing games also.

Because if they do, then Intel will have no other choice but to enter the life-and-death battle along with XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3, competing against other PCs running Windows Media Center Edition and TiVO systems.

Intel made no announcement regarding the future selling prices for VIIV PCs, but we can easily assume that they won't come cheap.

Then what's the deal? Why should a user choose the VIIV PCs over a XBOX 360 or a slim PC running Windows Media Center?

One possible answer could be the massively promoted WiMAX technology , the new Yonah and Conroe dual-core processors and a faster boot.

WiMAX is not a wide spread technology, at least not yet; it will take some time for it to become standard and the DRM problem is still there, even if Intel trusts users to switch soon to WiMAX for downloading movies.

While IBM's The Cell is already on the market and ready to enter some systems, at least that's what IBM, Sony and Toshiba hope to happen real soon, Yonah and Conroe still have to wait a little longer to launch.

Intel trusts that combining its marketing policies with Microsoft's for Media Center Edition will persuade lots of people to buy VIIV PCs, but we all know that efficient promotion it's not always enough for selling a product.

But Intel is determined to take that chance because the stake is high.

To become the leader of the digital world is indeed a huge challenge.

Will VIIV be enough for Intel to achieve that goal?