PCs still account for 66% of Intel's revenue, and while Otellini is making an aggressive push in mobile, he's also trying to breathe new life into Intel's computer business by promoting ultrabooks, the latest breed of lightweight, instant-on laptops (a.k.a. the PC version of a MacBook Air). But there's no doubt that mobile is where the real growth is. The market for mobile-phone chips will grow 40%, to $29.9 billion, by 2015, according to the Linley Group, a research firm.
Otellini has said that he expects to have Intel chips in 50% of the tablet market and 20% of smartphones by 2015. It's an ambitious goal, but not impossible. The company is big enough and rich enough to eventually convert customers to its camp -- as it did in 2005, getting Apple to use its Core Duo chip. "They're very well resourced," concedes Warren East, CEO of rival ARM Holdings (ARMH), "and they have a bunch of clever people."
"This is a marathon, not a sprint," says Otellini. "Intel has enough momentum in our core business and enough assets that we're going to do this right. And we're going to win in the long run." If he's wrong, and Intel can't find its way into smartphones soon, Otellini may find himself back in the spotlight -- for all the wrong reasons.