The move is an interesting one and while coincidental to the work that AMD is doing does show that Intel is at the very least aware of their current shortcomings in the mobile market. So far most of the Intel based tablets have used the Atom CPU in combination with Windows 7. These have not received stellar reviews from consumers in fact when Asus launched the EPE121 which has a Core i5 UM CPU instead of the Atom many consumers grabbed it up for that very reason.

But, no matter whether you purchase an Atom or Core i5 UM based Windows Tablet you are still getting an Intel CPU. Right now AMD just does not have much in the way of competition in that arena. However, all of that will change here shortly. Microsoft has plans to develop Windows 8 for ARM in 2012. This will open up a whole new level of competition for Intel in the mobile market. They will need something to push back with especially in the low power/price market. Intel has also been looking for ways to enter the very lucrative smart phone arena and with the popularity of Google’s Android OS it only makes sense to start the conversation now. It is very doubtful that Windows Phone 7 will have any major impact on the industry in the next 2-3 years so they are out as is Apple. Intel’s own mobile OS did not fare so well which leaves Google as the last man standing here.

We will be interested to see if Intel can really “Atomize” (thanks Francois) the tablet and smart phone market especially with the way that ARM based designs are picking up in speed and number of cores. We think that Intel will really have to have something special up their sleeves to pull this one off.

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