Even as the demand for netbooks is showing signs of fatigue globally, chipmaker Intel is exploring avenues to drive the demand for its Atom processor. In India, the company has identified multiple avenues for the Atom, including the financial inclusion space and strengthening the postal system.
Primarily designed for netbooks and nettops, the Atom processor is used by many original equipment manufacturers. Intel first started shipping the low-power Atom chips for netbooks in 2008, when the market for this new computing device had just gathered steam. However, according to analysts, in to the second quarter, shipment of the Atom processors declined due to the emergence of mobile computing devices of various form factors, including tablets. In the second quarter, at $352 million, Intel's revenues from Atom processor and chipsets were down 15 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Globally, while Intel is diversifying into computing devices of various form factors, including smartphones and tablets, the company also plans to introduce a few reference products using the Atom processor, keeping in mind the requirements of various local markets. “We are seeing a lot of innovations around the netbook form factor. Some of the flattening out of netbook sales is happening because of this, and this in turn, is hitting shipment of Atom processors. However, we feel more Atoms are going to get into newer areas. Here in India, we are trying to see how we could potentially take the Atom and create some new, interesting products for the market,” says Intel India president, Praveen Vishakantaiah.
To start with, Intel had conducted a pilot project in partnership with some leading private banks to help them in their rural banking initiatives. The project was conducted across select places, using 'universal handheld devices', Atom-based embedded products that have printers, biometrics and general packet radio service—all integrated into one device. According to Vishakantaiah, the product was conceptualise, keeping in mind the unbanked rural areas where these devices could work as moving banks for basic banking transactions. “The pilot project is over, and the banks concerned are in different phases of rolling out these products. Other than rural banking and financial sectors, this could also find application in logistics,” he adds. For example, the department of posts has evinced interest in rolling out handheld solutions to take its entire spectrum of postal services to rural areas. A pilot project, based on Intel's Atom-powered handheld devices, is currently being carried out by the postal department. Part of the department's information technology modernisation initiative, the project aims to take postal service to the doorsteps of villagers and farmers, rather than have such populations coming to faraway places to avail of the services.
“If a villager, or a farmer in a village, wants to send a money order, a person can actually take this device to their doorsteps and conduct the transactions there. They can issue the money there and take the thumb print. The idea behind this device is it would help the postal department introduce more services. This was not possible earlier because of the extent of the manual work involved,” says Vishakantaiah. To be able to come up with local market-specific innovations, Intel India has set up a dedicated local market innovation team. Other than their core works, the team has been mandated to build reference products, using Intel technology, and take those to the original equipment manufacturers once the concept is proven.
With the emergence of cloud computing and computing devices with various form factors, the personal computer (PC) market is witnessing a slump. However, in emerging markets like India, the PC sales are still healthy, according to analysts. Given this trend, Intel is seeing a spike in demand for its servers, since cloud requires servers and infrastructure to host applications. However, as applications and data move to the cloud, this would make people come out with client devices of various form factors instead of just confining themselves to the PC.
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“For us, to be able to establish ourselves in the multitude of devices that are attached to the cloud is one area that we are trying to look into. Independent of the device one chooses to attach to the cloud, we would like to run it on Intel architecture. And, when you have a multitude of devices attached to the cloud, we want to make sure the user is able to move seamlessly between those devices,” says Vishakantaiah.
Some analysts believe ARM Holdings, which supplies designs to dozens of Intel's rivals—chipmakers such as Nvidia, Qualcomm and Broadcom—has an edge in the post-PC world. Apple licences ARM's technology to make its custom chips. Intel, they say, may rule the Windows 8 desktop and laptop market, but ARM and its partners would continue to rule the world of phones and tablets.