英特尔携手联想推出第一款手机

    千呼万唤始出来，如今，英特尔终于开始进军移动市场，而且选择了在中国打响第一炮。

    本周二下午，英特尔（Intel）首席执行官保罗•欧德宁在拉斯维加斯国际消费电子展（the Consumer Electronics Show）上发表主题演讲，展示了第一部依托该公司Medfield处理器的智能手机。这部手机由联想（Lenovo）制造，将于今年上半年登陆中国市场。英特尔同时宣布将与摩托罗拉移动（Motorola Mobility）展开合作，生产手机和平板电脑，不过他们的首部智能手机要等到今年下半年才会上市。欧德宁称：“我们才刚刚开始把自己的技术带进智能手机领域。我们打造的平台极其出色，有利于合作伙伴们的创新。”

    虽然英特尔一直称霸PC市场，不过它的处理器在智能手机和平板电脑领域却举步维艰。早在2010年，英特尔就发布了一款搭载自有处理器，由LG制造的手机，不过最终未能推向市场。英特尔寄予厚望的Meego（一款基于Linux的操作系统）最终也血本无归，尤其是盟友诺基亚（Nokia）“背信弃义”，突然转投微软（Microsoft）的Windows Phone系统。

    不过英特尔最终找到了正确的路子。去年九月，英特尔调整战略，宣布与谷歌（Google）合作，为其Android平台提供基于英特尔架构的优化。为了加快智能手机开发步伐，英特尔不久前还宣布将现有的四大部门整合成统一的移动集团。

    英特尔需要在移动市场有所作为，这点很明确。虽然英特尔的确能从搭载竞争对手芯片的移动设备中获益，因为它同时还销售服务器处理器。英特尔曾表示每600部活跃智能手机就需要一部服务器。虽然英特尔也在试图重新提振PC市场的需求，不遗余力地推动超级本、以及更轻薄、能够即开即用的笔记本。不过计算机业正在飞速转向移动市场，英特尔的这些努力显然不够。

    联想手机是新的开始，不过美中不足的是它只会在中国上市。英特尔和摩托罗拉的合作到底能结出多少成果，现在仍是个未知数。麦克•贝尔是英特尔新成立的移动和通信集团总经理，他对《财富》杂志（Fortune）表示：“这是Medfield处理器的首次登台亮相。人们一直在质疑英特尔到底能否玩转移动市场，我们的回答是：我们能，不过我们需要拿出真正的产品，这样才能让质疑者闭上嘴巴。”

    虽然英特尔一直在大谈特谈进军移动市场，但其竞争对手高通（Qualcomm）和英伟达（Nvidia）等已经依靠来自ARM Holdings的授权技术，用产品牢牢地占据了这个市场。这意味着，想让手机制造商选择英特尔芯片绝非易事。

    It's been a long time coming, but Intel has finally entered the mobile market -- in China.

    Intel (INTC) CEO Paul Otellini unveiled a smartphone that runs on the company's Medfield processor in a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show on Tuesday afternoon. The device, made by Lenovo, will be available in the Chinese market in the first half of this year. Intel also announced a partnership with Motorola Mobility (MMI) to develop phones and tablets, although their first product -- a smartphone -- won't be available until the second half of 2012. "We've only just begun to apply our technology to smartphones," Otellini said. "We've built an incredible platform for our partners to innovate on."

    Intel commands the PC market but has struggled to get its processors into smartphones and tablets. In 2010 Intel unveiled an LG device running on its processors, but the phone never made it to market. Its efforts to promote Meego (a Linux-based operating system) were a massive failure, especially after former partner Nokia (NOK) dumped the OS in favor of Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Phone.

    But Intel has finally taken some steps in the right direction. Last September it switched gears and announced it would partner with Google (GOOG) to optimize the Android platform for Intel architecture. And in an effort to speed up development for smartphones the company recently combined four existing divisions into one mobile group.

    It's clear Intel needs to make it in mobile. The company does make money from mobile devices powered by rival chipmakers because it sells server processors. Intel has said one server is needed for every 600 smartphones in use. It's also trying to reinvigorate demand in the PC market by pushing ultrabooks or thin, instant-on laptops. But that won't be enough in a computing industry that's increasingly shifting towards mobile.

    The Lenovo phone is a start, but it will only be available in China. And whether or not Intel's partnership with Motorola will yield any successful products remains to be seen. "It's the coming out party for Medfield," Mike Bell, general manager of Intel's newly formed mobile and communications group, told Fortune. "People kept asking us if Intel can play in this space and our message was yes, but until we show something it doesn't get driven home for people."

    While Intel has been talking about moving into mobile, competing chipmakers like Qualcomm (QCOM) and Nvidia (NVDA), which license technology from ARM Holdings (ARMH), have flooded the market with their products. Proving it can finally give phone manufacturers an alternative to these products won't be easy.