Sources from within Intel suggest that in the third quarter of this year, Intel will announce a new plan for tablet PC's they call, PRC Plus. This plan calls for using Intel based processors in tablet PC's with Google's Android OS. Intel claims that their processors have a performance advantage over ARM-based processors, and that they will improve the operating system's user interface. The other advantage for their plan is to save costs on Windows licensing fees for downstream vendors. The DigiTimes article also added,
Hmmm... this is an interesting development. Is this a sign of Intel moving slowly away from Microsoft, or just savvy business moves to cover all markets? Also, if it is true that Intel processors perform better than ARM based processors, the question still remains... can they run cooler? The Intel chips need to get really small and really cool before they will fit neatly into a tablet PC so that it doesn't cook your hands or lap...In addition to pushing an Intel/Android 3.0 platform, Intel is also set to adopt a similar strategy as in the PC industry and pay a subsidy of US$10 for each Intel CPU-based tablet PC to attract first-tier notebook vendors.
Asia-based Acer, Lenovo and Asustek Computer have all agreed to start up new netbook projects in the second half of 2011, while Cisco is also set to launch devices adopting Oak Trail/Android 3.0 targeting the enterprise market, the sources added.
What do you guys think?
Source: Android.net via DigiTimes