Chip giants scramble to put technology into mobile internet devices.
Intel and Nvidia are squaring up to claim a share of an upcoming device category called mobile internet devices (MIDS), comprised of 'iPhone-like mini tablet PCs'.The FT reports Intel as saying the MIDS market could be worth $40 billion by 2010, fueled by people wanting to access the web on the move using 4G network technologies like WiMax.
It quotes Intel's CEO Paul Otellini as saying: "If you accept that the value proposition of the high end of the mobile phone market is full internet access that happens to have voice, my view is that it's easier to add voice to a small computer than vice-versa."
Meanwhile, Reuters says Intel rival Nvidia is aiming its Tegra family of processors at the same market.
Described as a 'computer on a chip', the Tegra range also includes Nvidia's existing APX2500 smartphone chipset technology.
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Mike Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia's mobile business, said Tegra chips have 'an ARM 11 central processing unit core, a graphics processing unit, a media processor, system memory and peripherals in one ultra-low power-consuming chip smaller than a dime'.
