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英特尔在电视与智能手机市场失败的原因

英特尔目前难以在电视和智能手机市场获得立足之地,我认为是因为它不够谦逊。台湾厂商对于英特尔的每一个重大计划都唯唯诺诺,助长了他的狂妄自大,让其觉得自己无往不克。

英特尔目前难以在电视和智能手机市场获得立足之地,我认为是因为它不够谦逊。不客气地说,就是太狂妄自大了。 在我上周休假期间,英特尔悄然宣布退出数字电视市场。英特尔为该领域生产了两代SoC,一代面向雅虎软件,一代面向轰动一时的GoogleTV计划。 2004年,英特尔曾放弃过另一种准备利用微显示技术的数字电视计划。这种新兴技术从未真正流行起来。 只有在GoogleTV方面,英特尔才得到几个坚定的OEM伙伴,即索尼和罗技。但广播公司把谷歌电视的概念拒之门外,使得谷歌电视只能拣其吃剩的广告午餐。 网络驱动电视形式多样,但似乎近期不太可能使用x86内核。 部分原因在于,英特尔在开拓新市场方面采取了强推的方式。我支持英特尔大力推动其颇具雄心的计划,但经常缺乏OEM厂商等关键的利益相关者。在GoogleTV这件事中,就是缺乏广播公司的参与。 在智能电话方面也是如此。几年前英特尔开发出了手机SoC,这是其首批同类芯片之一,把x86内核与闪存集成在一个芯片上面,但该芯片从未被市场接受。相反,传统供应商推出的3D芯片把单独的闪存与应用处理器堆叠在一起,却风生水起。 另一件事是,大约两年来,英特尔一直努力想把Atom打入智能手机市场。它与诺基亚签署了开发合作协议,但后来的诺基亚首席执行官Stephen Elop转而支持微软,认为微软是更有活力的生态系统提供商,叫停了与英特尔的合作。 英特尔仍在鼓吹其基于Atom的32纳米Medfield SoC,声称明年将拿下多个智能手机订单。但英特尔也取消了为智能手机开发的MeeGo操作系统。 有人告诉我,英特尔三个月前警告台湾的几家大型ODM厂商,指责它们没有为MeeGo尽到足够的力量。一些小型软件公司在致力于这种操作系统,现在他们感觉为此浪费了一年多的时间。英特尔现在鼓励这些软件公司把重点转向Tizen,这是将于明年推出的另一种移动Linux操作系统。 我欣赏英特尔能够迅速推出大胆的大型计划,而且在进展不利的时候能够灵活地果断收手。对于一家大型公司来说,英特尔的动作十分迅速。 但副作用是潜在的伙伴感到害怕,不愿意加入英特尔的下一个大型项目。英特尔过去失败的其它计划包括:无线USB,先进交换互连,以及后来卖给Netronome的英特尔网络处理器。 是的,PCI和PCI Express等项目也取得了辉煌的成功。而且英特尔在把x86打入多种嵌入系统方面也成绩斐然,包括通信系统中的控制计划(control plans in comms systems)。OEM和其它伙伴闭口不谈英特尔的下一个重大计划,我对此可以理解。 我猜测下一个项目可能是Thunderbolt。迄今为止,苹果是支持这种互连的唯一一家顶级OEM厂商。Thunderbolt与USB 3.0重叠,而多数PC厂商支持后者已经很多年。英特尔声称华硕和宏基明年将采用Thunderbolt,但我猜测华硕和宏基不会在所有产品线上都支持这种互连。 实际上,台湾厂商对于英特尔的每一个重大计划都唯唯诺诺,助长了英特尔的狂妄自大,让其觉得自己无往不克。现在,甚至数一数二的PC厂商都缺乏技术资源,更加依赖于英特尔,增加了英特尔自大的资本。 英特尔急需在平板电脑和智能手机获得关键一席之地。强推配备下一款Linux类型移动操作系统的Atom,可能是最短的捷径,但不是最好的方式。 我认为,英特尔应该让从英特尔收购来的无线基带部门牵头。该部门可以充当战略性的潜听哨,深入了解苹果等关键手机厂商的业务。倾听这些OEM厂商的需求,以及面临的问题。找到空白,然后迅速地加以填补。 采用这种方式必须放低自己的身段,让客户发挥主导作用。多年来,大多数半导体厂商都在使用这种方式。 如果英特尔打算吸引PC市场以外的客户,必须学会这些得到普遍采用的方法,并培养自己的耐心。 编译: Luffy Liu 本文授权编译自EE Times,版权所有,谢绝转载 参考英文原文:Why Intel is not inside TVs, smartphones, by RickMerritt

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{pagination} Why Intel is not inside TVs, smartphones RickMerritt SAN JOSE, Calif. – I've got a theory why Intel is struggling to get a foothold in TVs and cellphones—it's a lack of humility or, put less kindly, hubris. While I was taking a few days off last week, Intel quietly announced it was getting out of the digital TV business. It had produced two generations of SoCs--one for Yahoo software and another for the high-profile GoogleTV initiative. In 2004, the PC giant abandoned a separate digital TV effort that tried to leverage microdisplays, an emerging technology that never quite emerged. Only with GoogleTV did Intel have solid OEM partners—in this case Sony and Logitech. In this case broadcasters put up barriers to the notion of Google eating what's left of their advertising lunch. Web-enabled TVs are coming in various forms. But it doesn't look like they will be using x86 cores anytime soon. The problem, in part, is Intel seems to take a bulldozer approach to new market development. I give the company credit for its willingness to drive ambitious initiatives aggressively, but too often it does that without key stakeholders such as OEMs, or in the GoogleTV case, broadcasters. The same has been true in smartphones. Years ago Intel developed one of its first cellphone SoCs, merging x86 cores and flash on a chip, but it never got market traction. Instead 3-D chip stacks with separate flash and application processors took off from traditional suppliers. In a second effort, Intel has been driving Atom into the smartphone market for about two years. It signed up Nokia as a development partner, but incoming Nokia CEO Stephen Elop nixed the deal when he shifted support to Microsoft, perceived as a more vibrant ecosystem provider. Intel is still beating the drum for its 32nm Medfield SoC based on Atom, claiming next year it will have multiple smartphone design wins. But it also cancelled its MeeGo flavor of mobile Linux originally geared for those phones. One source tells me Intel warned some of Taiwan's big ODMs as recently as three months ago they were not putting enough effort into MeeGo. A handful of small software companies were working with the OS and now feel they have wasted more than a year's time. Intel is encouraging them to shift their focus to Tizen, a replacement mobile Linux OS coming next year. I give Intel credit for quickly winding up big, bold initiatives, and having the flexibility and guts to trash them when they don't pan out. For a big company, Intel moves quickly. But the knock-on effect is potential partners get shell shocked, unwilling to jump on the next big bandwagon. Among other past misfires: wireless USB, Advanced Switching Interconnect and Intel's network processors sold off to Netronome. Yes, there were also roaring successes such as PCI and PCI Express. And Intel has made great strides getting the x86 into diverse embedded systems, including control plans in comms systems. But I cut OEMs and other partners some slack for being reticent about the next big Intel initiative. I suspect Thunderbolt may be the next to go. So far, Apple is the only top OEM supporting the interconnect which overlaps USB 3.0, a link most PC makers have been working to support for years. Intel claims Asustek and Acer will adopt Thunderbolt next year, but I suspect the support may not be very broad across their product lines. Indeed, Taiwan has been so complaint with every major Intel initiative it is almost complicit in fueling the x86 giant's hubris that it can boss its way to success. These days even top tier PC makers are so gutted of technical resources they rely more heavily than ever on Intel, adding swagger to the microprocessor makers stride. Intel badly needs to get key sockets in tablets and smartphones. Bulldozing Atom with whatever will be the new mobile Linux flavor of the day may look like the shortest path, but it is not the best one. I think Intel should let its new wireless baseband group acquired from Infineon lead the way. The group should be a strategic listening post with ears deep into the operations of key handset makers, including Apple. Listen to what those OEMs want, what their struggles are. Look for a gap and when you find it, fill it quickly and cleanly. That's an approach that requires a lot of humility, letting customers lead the way. Most of the semiconductor industry has been using that model for years. If Intel wants to get beyond its browbeaten customers in the PC market, it needs to learn these widely practiced techniques and develop the patience to take the long road. Why Intel is not inside TVs, smartphones SAN JOSE, Calif. – I've got a theory why Intel is struggling to get a foothold in TVs and cellphones—it's a lack of humility or, put less kindly, hubris. While I was taking a few days off last week, Intel quietly announced it was getting out of the digital TV business. It had produced two generations of SoCs--one for Yahoo software and another for the high-profile GoogleTV initiative. In 2004, the PC giant abandoned a separate digital TV effort that tried to leverage microdisplays, an emerging technology that never quite emerged. Only with GoogleTV did Intel have solid OEM partners—in this case Sony and Logitech. In this case broadcasters put up barriers to the notion of Google eating what's left of their advertising lunch. Web-enabled TVs are coming in various forms. But it doesn't look like they will be using x86 cores anytime soon. The problem, in part, is Intel seems to take a bulldozer approach to new market development. I give the company credit for its willingness to drive ambitious initiatives aggressively, but too often it does that without key stakeholders such as OEMs, or in the GoogleTV case, broadcasters. The same has been true in smartphones. Years ago Intel developed one of its first cellphone SoCs, merging x86 cores and flash on a chip, but it never got market traction. Instead 3-D chip stacks with separate flash and application processors took off from traditional suppliers. In a second effort, Intel has been driving Atom into the smartphone market for about two years. It signed up Nokia as a development partner, but incoming Nokia CEO Stephen Elop nixed the deal when he shifted support to Microsoft, perceived as a more vibrant ecosystem provider. Intel is still beating the drum for its 32nm Medfield SoC based on Atom, claiming next year it will have multiple smartphone design wins. But it also cancelled its MeeGo flavor of mobile Linux originally geared for those phones. One source tells me Intel warned some of Taiwan's big ODMs as recently as three months ago they were not putting enough effort into MeeGo. A handful of small software companies were working with the OS and now feel they have wasted more than a year's time. Intel is encouraging them to shift their focus to Tizen, a replacement mobile Linux OS coming next year. I give Intel credit for quickly winding up big, bold initiatives, and having the flexibility and guts to trash them when they don't pan out. For a big company, Intel moves quickly. But the knock-on effect is potential partners get shell shocked, unwilling to jump on the next big bandwagon. Among other past misfires: wireless USB, Advanced Switching Interconnect and Intel's network processors sold off to Netronome. Yes, there were also roaring successes such as PCI and PCI Express. And Intel has made great strides getting the x86 into diverse embedded systems, including control plans in comms systems. But I cut OEMs and other partners some slack for being reticent about the next big Intel initiative. I suspect Thunderbolt may be the next to go. So far, Apple is the only top OEM supporting the interconnect which overlaps USB 3.0, a link most PC makers have been working to support for years. Intel claims Asustek and Acer will adopt Thunderbolt next year, but I suspect the support may not be very broad across their product lines. Indeed, Taiwan has been so complaint with every major Intel initiative it is almost complicit in fueling the x86 giant's hubris that it can boss its way to success. These days even top tier PC makers are so gutted of technical resources they rely more heavily than ever on Intel, adding swagger to the microprocessor makers stride. Intel badly needs to get key sockets in tablets and smartphones. Bulldozing Atom with whatever will be the new mobile Linux flavor of the day may look like the shortest path, but it is not the best one. I think Intel should let its new wireless baseband group acquired from Infineon lead the way. The group should be a strategic listening post with ears deep into the operations of key handset makers, including Apple. Listen to what those OEMs want, what their struggles are. Look for a gap and when you find it, fill it quickly and cleanly. That's an approach that requires a lot of humility, letting customers lead the way. Most of the semiconductor industry has been using that model for years. If Intel wants to get beyond its browbeaten customers in the PC market, it needs to learn these widely practiced techniques and develop the patience to take the long road.
责编:Quentin
本文为国际电子商情原创文章,未经授权禁止转载。请尊重知识产权,违者本司保留追究责任的权利。
Rick Merritt
EE Times硅谷采访中心主任。Rick的工作地点位于圣何塞,他为EE Times撰写有关电子行业和工程专业的新闻和分析。 他关注Android,物联网,无线/网络和医疗设计行业。 他于1992年加入EE Times,担任香港记者,并担任EE Times和OEM Magazine的主编。
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