Welcome to a laptop battery specialist of the IBM Laptop Battery
The Fall Processor Forum was held last week in the Silicon Valley. This show has become the counter to Intel's Developer Forum (IDF), and it probably should now be called "The Everything but Intel Microprocessor Forum."
It kind of feels like the rebuttal in a presidential debate. Intel, as the incumbent, got to argue a few weeks ago at IDF that they have the best idea on how to drive the PC market, and now the companies that compete with Intel get to argue why they can do the job better.
Fortunately there was little mention of Vietnam or Iraq in any of the presentations, but there was a great deal on security. Clearly the goal of most was to improve your, and their, bottom line.
Intel is clearly in the dominant position in the segment, but -- like many incumbents -- they aren't serving their constituency as well as they could. With PC vendors warning of financial shortfalls and buyers having difficulty justifying new PC with battery such as IBM 02K6928 Battery , IBM 02K6620 Battery , IBM 02K7039 Battery , IBM ThinkPad X60 Battery , IBM FRU 92P1167 Battery , IBM ThinkPad Z60t Battery , IBM ThinkPad Z61t Battery , IBM 40Y6793 Battery , IBM FRU 92P1125 Battery , IBM FRU 92P1121 Battery purchases, there is an opportunity for a change. AMD, VIA and Transmeta each have different ideas on how to do that, while IBM Microelectronics may be secretly planning a coup.
AMD is second to Intel, and central to its platform is the message, "We already are where you want to go." It showed that it is the only vendor with a 64-bit mainstream microprocessor which fully embraces all of the security features in Windows XP SP-1. AMD is focusing on the microprocessor alone and partnering to fill out the rest of the platform. Through these partners they gain the scale needed to potentially match Intel's efforts while allowing the user/hardware OEM to better bid the sub-component vendors against each other and differentiate on price and capability.
This strategy doesn't attack Intel on the "consistency" platform where Intel has established a powerful advantage with corporate buyers. However, cost is increasingly important even to these corporations, and in the consumer/small to midsize business (SMB) space consistency is not nearly as important.
In this part of the market people are far more concerned with obsolescence protection, and here AMD may have the stronger argument. AMD isn't just desktop anymore. Last week when we detailed the top laptops under $1,500, AMD was in three of the five products.
VIA is next in size, and VIA's central campaign platform is value. Perhaps better stated, it is "adequate performance at a market leading prices." They have no desire to chase AMD and Intel for the performance lead, but their position is also less polarized with regard to components.
VIA, like Intel, builds a bundled system, but unlike Intel it actually sells the components in configurations that support competitors -- including Intel and AMD -- as well as its own platform. In many ways it is more of a partner to AMD than a competitor. As a result it seems to be most creative when it comes to looking at its own market opportunities.
VIA has a heavy focus on security with unique technology that addresses encryption, seen as critical to adequately securing data without degrading performance. The company is the most aggressive in attracting buyers who currently can't afford PCs.
Heavily favored in developing countries and the leading vendor in unique automotive and entertainment based x86 platforms, often using Linux, VIA seems to be the most willing to go into new areas and create new markets. While AMD and Intel have been showcasing dual-core technologies due out next year, VIA was showcasing low-cost, small-sized dual processor systems that can be implemented this year.