Posted on Saturday, December 13 2008 @ 20:10 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
ABI Research
believes ARM-based processors are ready to catch up with Intel in the netbook world:
At present Intel Corp.’s positions of the market of netbooks are very solid and companies like Texas Instruments and Via Technologies are behind the world’s largest chipmaker. However, going forward, ARM vendors, including TI, will pressure Intel as consumers will be looking forward netbooks with longer battery life.
“Today, Intel has key customers shipping products in volume. x86-based solutions allows netbook vendors the flexibility to create one product with the option to run Linux or Windows. However, we expect ARM-based vendors to become more competitive here as netbooks evolve to be much lighter, thinner, and cheaper with longer battery life, and as consumers come to accept Linux OSs more readily,” said ABI Research analyst Philip Solis.
According to ABI Research, Intel presently tops its so-called “netbook platform vendor matrix”, whereas Texas Instruments and Via Technologies claim the second and third spots, respectively.
