PC Makers Showing Little Interest in Atom-Based Tablets

It didn't take very long for Intel to establish its dominance in the netbook market, with nearly every netbook release coming equipped with an Atom processor inside. Now the Santa Clara chip maker is turning its head towards the tablet space, and understandably so. While netbook sales are showing little signs of slowing down. tablets appear to be the next big thing in mobile computing, and you can bet Intel wants the lion's share of the pie. But will PC vendors oblige?

According to reports, Intel is having trouble convincing notebook players that its Atom+Windows combo is a good fit for tablets. Instead, tablet makers are turning their attention to ARM processors and combining them with Google's uber popular Android platform.


The problem here for Intel is two-fold. First, ARM chips hold the advantage in price, power consumption, and heat dissipation, three extremely important areas in the tablet space. And secondly, Android is arguably the fastest growing OS right now, and has a legitimate shot at knocking Apple's iPad back on its heels. Meanwhile, we've seen a handful of Windows-based tablets fall by the wayside, including Microsoft's own dual-screen Courier device.

The good news for Intel is that vendors are unwilling to completely cut ties with the chip maker and are at least planning to release some Atom/Windows-based tablets in small volumes. Depending on how those are received, the tablet game could change very quickly.