Intel: We Sell 1 Million PCs a Day Now, iPad 'Insignificant'

The significance of the iPad is that Intel is even mentioning it at all.

I agree with the comments above. iPad seems like a big iPod Touch and will probably compete with those. The netbook and Win Tablets have much more functions than an iPad, so many, though not all, would not be comparing the them for a purchase, IMO. But then again, many of us at this site don't give two craps about iPad, iPod or iPhone sales. The rest of you seem to be obsessed in each direction pro and con. Perhaps you need idesensitization ;)

Who is going to listen to the "iPad is insignificant"-type arguments?  The consumer?  No way.  The Apple fanatic?  Of course not.  The investors?  Perhaps, but that's about it.  Otherwise, this just reeks of the Ballmer "iPhone is a cute toy"-type comments, that were obviously wrong.

To be fair, I don't have (or want) an iPad, and I think that the media coverage is ridiculous -- including this piece.  That said, I own a netbook and basically never use it due to the small screen rez and underpowered CPU.  It does a lot of things that an iPad cannot, but it doesn't do anything particularly well.  I think the netbook industry is going to continue to die down for these very reasons.  Is an iPad-like device the answer?  Maybe for *some* of those questions, but certainly not the role that the netbook is TRYING to fill.

They just need to make better netbooks.

When I upgrade my devices in the future, there's no way you can sell me an underpowered, minimalistic, & overpriced iPad. The iPad is what it is. A Sub-Netbook tablet. That's exactly what it is. To call an iPad a netbook is insulting to a netbook, because a netbook actually runs a real desktop OS. Even Leo's experiment to replace Macbook for an iPad failed. Why? Because you can't print & 99% of humans need a printer. I don't think the printed document goes away just because Steve Jobs says so. Remember all the talk about the iPad being a "Kindle Killer?" Whoops, didn't happen. Take an iPad outside in Dallas' beautiful 82 degrees party cloudy skies. See the glare on that screen, right in your face? Reading an iPad's glossy screen in the bright sun doesn't translate to reading success. Looks like the Kindle's aren't going anywhere. So it doesn't replace a Kindle, doesn't replace a netbook, doesn't replace a laptop, & it doesn't replace a desktop. Some people will find a use for the iPad. Power to them. For the rest of us, those of us who actually have a good notebook or netbook, the iPad is useless. You can't run real desktop software to get useful work done. Most screens out there still have better or equal resolution to the iPad. The storage, processor, & system doesn't have what it needs to be a device replacement tool. This is more of a supplementary device, but in my opinion an unnecessary luxury. If Google, HP, or Microsoft can make a tablet that gives you all the notebook functionality & an simpler OS to handle it, that's the real win-win. A tablet has to replace a netbook or a notebook to break out to mass market success. So far, the million iPad's sold so far, is people who generally would buy Apple products. My theory it's part of the 35 million or so Mac users out there. The true story is when iPad sells 70 million units. Then it will truly be a success. However, I suspect there will be some serious upgrades & features added before it gets that high. It won't be this useless extra device in it's current form.

I'm not an iPad person at all. I can't see a significant use for it myself. I do "lean" Apple though. But what I don't get is if this thing is so insignificant, why is there all the fuss to tell everyone so? Let the product die an insignificant death if that is truly what happens. If it takes off, why should a PC person (be it Paul or ANYONE) care??? I could care less about Netbooks myself, but I am glad its an option. Not that iPad is a netbook and vice versa, but an iPad is just another option for someone. Who cares? Isn't human nature to only talk about things that are threats? I hate comparing Apples and Oranges, but there is more talk about an insignificant product like iPad than there is over a "significant" product like Zune.

Otellini also had a lot to say about tablets. "On the scale of the PC industry, they're relatively insignificant. Fun with headlines on a Wednesday Paul?

I have trouble believing that a new device which sells a million in a month can be said to be insignificant. Comparing the iPad to traditional computers is apples to oranges at this stage. Again, a million in a month not bad for a new product. In fact, it's great; and from the shortages, I can only assume that even Apple underestimated how many iPads would sell in such a short time. I have no doubt that Otellini would be singing the iPad's praises if it had an Intel chip inside.

The head of Intel is merely cheerleading to the company's investors;.

And why not dismiss Apple? In the past five years, Apple's stock has risen more than 600% while Intel's has fallen, Apple's market cap has gone from a small percentage of Intel's to double Intel's and Apple's revenue has gone screaming past Intel's despite Intel reporting their best earnings ever.

He's just trying to keep Intel investors in the fold.

Wae, there is at least one free speech recognition iPad/iPhone app by Nuance Dragon Naturallyspeaking, that will allow you to dictate and edit, then send as an email or text message as well as save to clip board. It works pretty well.

Netbooks are only going to get better over time (faster CPU's\more RAM & sharper displays) and I would prefer to have a small PC that I can get work done on rather than pay a lot of money for something that is not much more than a pure entertainment device. I have to agree with subzero's comments above.

"Netbooks are only going to get better over time (faster CPU's\more RAM & sharper displays) and I would prefer to have a small PC that I can get work done on rather than pay a lot of money for something that is not much more than a pure entertainment device."

And there are just as many people that dont want a keyboard in the way and want a pure entertainment device....see game console.

Its OK for both to be a hit with consumers....really it is.

"I couldn't imagine Apple going to inferior chips, AMD's chips are not competitive at the high end right now."

AMD's chips certainly aren't inferior in the mainstream and budget market.  Show me an Intel quad-core processor in the ~$100 price range and we'll talk.

What AMD brings to the table for Apple is a unified platform for multimedia - something that Apple has always embraced.  AMD did have a power efficiency crown with the first dual-core processor on a single slice of silicon.  They weren't the first to market with dual-core - Intel was.  What they did was provide something that was based on superior designs to Intel.

Now AMD is the innovator, and Intel is offering the better designs.  AMD is bringing premier multi-core technologies to the masses though, with the first (and only) six-core processor in the sub-$200 price range.  If Apple wanted to push multi-core application development into the mainstream, they would be better suited to AMD's technology.  Even though Intel is pushing raw power with the high-end I7's, they are still lagging behind in offering competitive platforms for multi-core, and people seem to forget that it's Intel that has pushed hard for multi-core software development.  It's like the lost child, just like BTX, Verified by Intel, Viiv, IA64, and a host of other technologies and platforms that they've lost sight of and given up because they never had a good marketing message behind them.

AMD is pushing hard with "Vision" though.  They already have SATA 6Gbps, and Intel is lagging behind.  AMD's chipsets have superior onboard graphics.  And most 800-series chipset motherboards are shipping with USB 3.0 support.

AMD has a multimedia-centric, multi-core platform that would be great for Apple, its developers, and its users.  To get an integrated chipset with decent onboard video with Intel, they'd have to stick to Core 2 Duo with the 9400m chipset because NVIDIA has no integrated graphics chipsets for Intel Core iX CPU's.  It's no wonder the Mac Mini hasn't been upgraded to a new Intel CPU, because they'd have to use a Core i3, which has integrated "Intel HD VIdeo" which is a step down from the 9400m.  Discrete graphics isn't an option for the Mac Mini due to its form factor.  I could understand if Apple was waiting to update the Mini and low-end MacBook until a new partnership with AMD is started.  NVIDIA said that they won't likely be doing integrated graphics chipsets for Intel Core iX due to the contract dispute - only discrete options.

Oh, and just FYI:  a stock Athlon II X4 630 gets a 7.4 out of 7.9 on Windows 7's CPU WEI score.  It sells the aforementioned ~$100 price.  4GB of DDR3 RAM in an 890GX chipset board (<$140US) gets 5.9 for RAM (you won't get any higher unless it's more than 4GB), and a single SATA 6Gbps HDD gets 5.9 (for higher, you need RAID or SCSI).  Graphics with the o/b Radeon HD 4290 gets in the mid to high 4's, which is fine for light gaming, 1080p HD video, and of course, Aero.

Here we go again!  Apple comes out with a new product and everybody calls "Insignificant!"

When the iPod was released people said it would soon be replaced by cheaper devices - that never happened and people are locked into the Apple ecosystem - thanks to the RIA no less.

Then the iPhone came out and every one said it was over hyped and would be replicated by other phones.  I still haven't seen an iPhone Killer yet - sorry.  Droid comes the closest, but still needs more time to bake, and I don't think that Apple is sitting on their hands either.

Then Apple starts selling super futuristic, aluminum clad, dream Macintosh notebooks.  These computers basically sell themselves with their drop dead looks, impressive specs, and innovative features  - as opposed to the sticker-covered plastic , bouncy keyboard and tiny trackpad, butt ugly PC laptops.  Now Apple owns (yes owns) the retail laptop market over $1000.00.  

So now we have the iPad, the Apple tablet 1.0 and everyone here is predicting its premature failure.  Have you all been stuck in World Of Warcraft for the last 7 years?

"But what I don't get is if this thing is so insignificant, why is there all the fuss to tell everyone so? Let the product die an insignificant death if that is truly what happens. If it takes off, why should a PC person (be it Paul or ANYONE) care??? I could care less about Netbooks myself, but I am glad its an option. Not that iPad is a netbook and vice versa, but an iPad is just another option for someone. Who cares?"

There's been some rumblings lately that the iPad is cutting into netbook sales. Most of those netbooks run Intel Atom processors. This was an investor meeting for Intel. Those investors are probably wary that the iPad is chipping away at netbook, and hence Atom sales.Hence, Intel addressed it and said that, in comparison, the market for the iPad is still extremely small. Does that help explain why there is "all the fuss"?

I think netbooks and touchscreen devices will inevitably coalesce into the same thing. They're aiming for the same market, ultraportables. And no one will want to carry both with them all the time. That said, I'll be really surprised if Apple stands on top when the dust settles either.