英特尔看好PC，计划2012年推出英特尔芯片智能手机
英特尔公司首席执行官保罗•欧德宁（右）与苹果公司首席执行官史蒂夫•乔布斯，图片来自维基百科
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尽管人们都在嚷嚷着后PC时代来临，英特尔公司首席执行官保罗•欧德宁仍然看好传统的个人电脑市场。 在本周早些时候于加州圣克拉拉举行的英特尔公司投资者年会上，欧德宁表示，英特尔公司会继续革新个人电脑，它将很快拥有一些新特性，比如：可用上一整天的电池，触摸式界面以及即开即用的性能（借鉴平板电脑而来）。据欧德宁表示，英特尔公司正在努力开发耗电量更低的处理器，以促使这种新一代个人电脑早日诞生。 这位首席执行官对满满一会场投资者表示：“今天，我们要谈的最激动人心的事就是，重新塑造消费者个人电脑体验。” 尽管个人电脑处理器仍然是英特尔公司最赚钱的产品，但是，面对快速增长的智能手机和平板电脑市场，该公司还是经常受到指责，被认为颇为落伍，赶不上潮流（呃，就是一个不能按约出场者）。公司几年前就已承诺，要推出搭载英特尔芯片的手机，但至今没有一款推向市场。而在其平板电脑发展蓝图上，尽管目前比手机要走得更远些（预计本月晚些时候将推出搭载英特尔芯片的平板电脑），但公司还是得证明，对于像苹果iPad这样搭载ARM芯片的平板电脑，它能够急起直追。本周二的投资者会议上，欧德宁承认，公司缺乏一份规划得更清晰的移动设备发展蓝图，会让在场的一些投资者感到失望。 英特尔公司的宏大规划是，在所有产品种类中实现其“硅领导地位”——从大功率的服务器处理器，直至用在手机和平板电脑上的低功率芯片。但到目前为止，它还难以实现这一愿景。第一款运用英特尔处理器的智能手机要到2012年才会推出。即使它正式面市，也不清楚比起英国芯片设计公司ARM Holdings来，英特尔的移动芯片到底有何优势。而前者目前在移动设备上早已一统天下。 而与此同时，英特尔公司表示，与其他芯片供应商相比，它已从移动设备的普及中挣到了更多的钱。这是怎么做到的呢？靠卖服务器处理器。据英特尔公司表示，每600部使用中的智能手机就需要一台服务器。这一需求将帮助英特尔公司今年的数据中心销售额增长至100亿美元。英特尔预计，五年内，这一数字就将翻番达到200亿美元。 还有个人电脑市场。尽管近期戴尔公司（Dell）和惠普公司（Hewlett-Packard）宣告个人电脑销售下滑，来自中国和其他新兴市场的需求仍然旺盛，而台式机向笔记本电脑的转型也有助于刺激对英特尔销售额高达300亿美元的个人电脑处理器业务的需求。 当然，如果后PC时代真的来临（就像苹果公司的史蒂夫•乔布斯乐于表明的那样），那么英特尔公司在个人电脑上的增长就将迅速萎缩。虽然英特尔的服务器业务确实因移动设备的普及而获利，但即便是欧德宁也承认，从长期来看，这并不会起到决定性作用。 本周二，欧德宁告诉投资者的是：“我们的收入大部分来自基础设施。对我们来说，这可不够。” 译者：清远 |
Despite all the hullabaloo over a post-PC era, Intel chief executive officer Paul Otellini remains bullish on the traditional personal computing market. At the chipmaker's annual investor meeting held earlier this week in Santa Clara, Calif., Otellini said Intel (INTC) will reinvent PCs, which will soon have features like all-day battery life, a touch interface and instant-on capabilities (a la tablets). According to Otellini, Intel is hard at work at developing the lower-wattage processors that will enable this new breed of PCs. "The most exciting thing we'll be talking about today is redefining the consumer PC experience," the CEO told an auditorium full of investors. But while PC processors remain Intel's biggest moneymaker, the company is often criticized for being unfashionably late (okay, a no-show) to the fast-growing smartphone and tablet market. It has promised Intel-powered mobile phones for several years now, but so far none have hit the market. And while it's a bit farther along on its tablet roadmap (an Intel-running tablet is expected to launch later this month), it's yet to prove it can play catch-up to ARM-powered tablets like Apple's (AAPL) iPad. At Tuesday's investor meeting, Otellini admitted that the lack of a more clearly defined mobile roadmap would disappoint some in the room. Intel's master plan is to extend its "silicon leadership" across all product categories -- from high-power server processors to lower-wattage chips that go into mobile phones and tablets. But so far, it hasn't been able to execute on this vision. The first smartphones running Intel processors won't begin shipping until 2012. And even after they become available, it's not clear if Intel's mobile chips will have any advantage over technology licensed by British chip designer ARM Holdings (ARMH), which dominates mobile devices. In the meantime, the company says it's already making more money from the proliferation of mobile devices than any other silicon vendors. How? By selling server processors. According to Intel, one server is needed for every 600 smartphones in use. That demand will help grow Intel's data center sales to $10 billion this year. Within five years, Intel expects this number to double to $20 billion. And then there's the PC market. Despite recent reports of a slump in PC sales from both Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Intel maintains that demand from China and emerging markets and the shift from desktop to notebook is helping to fuel demand for its $30 billion PC processors business. Of course, if a post-PC era is really upon us (as Apple's Steve Jobs likes to point out), then the growth Intel is seeing in PCs will soon wane. And while Intel's server business does profit from the proliferation of any mobile devices, even Otellini admits that's not going to move the needle over the long-term. "The money is in the infrastructure," CEO Otellini told investors on Tuesday. "But that isn't enough for us." |
