Chip giants Intel, AMD and others are expected to transition away from the PC industry to smartphones and smartbooks, as the companies look to expand into a growing tech sector.
Although netbooks sales have remained strong, the PC and enterprise markets have struggled due to the bad economy.
The interest in working in the smartphone industry isn't anything new to some companies, with NVIDIA, Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm and other companies becoming extremely experienced in different markets. NVIDIA, Apple and Qualcomm are all developing their own ARM-based mobile hardware, as the smartphone industry continues to mature and gain popularity.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, based on ARM technology, is now used in the HTC Desire as well as other newer smartphones. ARM technology will face increased pressure as other chip manufacturers invade the mobile device space.
Smartbooks, which are made up of smartphone hardware in a portable computer case, offer low prices and extended battery life. Netbooks still remain significantly more popular, but products such as the Apple iPad and other rival devices are expected to be popular with consumers.
"As these things look more like computers, they will value some of the capabilities we have and want increasing levels of performance," said Robert Crooke, Intel VP of the Atom Chip, in a statement with the NY Times. "We're seeing that from our customers in a number of spaces, including digital TVs and hand-held devices."
Added competition may temporarily fracture the market, but consumers will benefit as the technology progresses at a rapid pace. With the increased competition, the cost of these more robust smartphones will likely drop in price over the next six financial quarters, making them more affordable and accessible to a wider array of consumers.
