Intel Will Have a Hard Time with Medfield in 2012

Looks like Intel's past misses are coming back to haunt the Santa Clara, California-based company as it is preparing to try its hand (again) at the smartphone and tablet markets.

By now, people should be well aware of how Intel is really serious about entering the mobile market.

That means the market of handsets, not mobile personal computer where it is already king of the hill.

Unfortunately, rumors and reports continue to paint a harsh picture of the likely future.

This once, speculations and murmurs abound concerning what may or may not happen with Medfield next year.

Intel will launch this chip in 2012 and wants it both in smartphones and slates, but it will have a hard time promoting it and scoring design wins.

This is because of more than the continued power efficiency shortcomings of x86 chips (compared to ARM).

Also, Intel doesn't really have a good track record in the SoC (system-on-chip) department.

Its products not only failed to compete, they actually left Intel with a bad reputation, particularly through the mobile Internet devices (MID).

Intel had tried to get the MIDs to become a new sensation (to an extent like it is trying with ultrabooks, though the latter are playing it safer, being, in the end, laptops), but the devices ultimately became a flubbed project.

With this to force notebook makers to be cautious about anything Intel is preparing for their nascent smartphone businesses, the Santa Clara company has a second front to fight.

Namely, Intel shows a visible lack of partnerships with first-tier smartphone vendors.

At least Samsung is a company that will release a Medfield smartphone, running Android 4.0 and sold through Sprint.

Then again, this is not so much a statement in favor of Intel as it is an expression of Samsung's wish to not be limited to a single platform.