Intel dreams of twin device future

[BGonaSTICK]

Chip behemoth Intel is betting that users will carry two connected, mobile devices in the future: one for making calls and one for browsing the internet.

At a press briefing in London Thursday, Intel's Rob De Line, director UMPC marketing, told journalists that starting next year, small wireless notebooks - dubbed Ultra Mobile PCs - will emerge that will lend themselves to "true mobile internet browsing".

DeLine said that current efforts to provide users with an internet experience using mobile phones fell well short of what is required. "There is a trade off between pocket mobility and the internet today. You need a larger screen size for the net and more power to deal with sites that require Flash or other technologies... you need that technology built into the mobile device and a phone cannot do that."

Intel's vision, DeLine explained, is based on the premise that people are willing to carry two devices: one for browsing the internet and a phone.

Intel's ambition is to introduce a pocket sized device (screen sizes mentioned started at 5 inches) "that capture the goodness of the PC architecture", said DeLine. The company is attempting to deliver a 10x power reduction in its current processor architecture by 2008, enabling it to run these miniature PCs with full functionality.

DeLine explained that initial devices may have a battery life as low as four hours he said: "But we're working on that." He argues that initial demand will be in the consumer space. "Kids want to upload and download their videos or whatever to the internet and you just can't get the experience... with a cell phone. You have to have a bigger screen."

Dr. Martin Mueller director of Intel IT, added that "dreams" of a converged device that satisfies both voice and internet functionality are a myth. "We don't believe that this mythical device that can do everything exists just yet. For today we accept that we have multiple devices, in any combination from notebook to PDA, from PDA to notebook and so on."

Ben Wood, director at industry analyst CCS, said Intel's vision fits into a connected future: "This is not a billion unit device but it definitely has a role to play. People may take a while to get used to these new form factors, they've seen them before with the Newton and the Toshiba Libretto for example but there's definitely a space for them in a broad space."

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I wonder how long it's taken, and at what cost, for Intel to come up with the fabulous notion that a mobile phone isn't suited to surfing the Internet?

I could have told them that 10 years ago for the price of a pint :