英特尔: 数月内Ultrabook价格将不再”非主流”

英特尔(Intel)总裁暨CEO 欧德宁(Paul Otellini)日前表示，该公司预期超轻薄笔电(Ultrabook)将在接下来几个月达到”主流”价格点；他并在发布英特尔第一季财报的分析师电话会议中表示，目前市面上已经有21款Ultrabook出货，预期在2012下半年还将会有超过100款的新Ultrabook问世。 欧德宁表示，为推广Ultrabook，英特尔在本月初展开了近十年来规模最大的广告销售活动；该公司正积极拉抬这种专门采用英特尔处理器、超轻薄笔记本电脑的消费者接受度。英特尔并已经提出”Ultrabook”这个名词的商标申请。而英特尔旗下的风险投资机构，在去年推出了一笔3亿美元的基金，专门提供给开发支持Ultrabook概念技术的新创公司。 到目前为止，市场对Ultrabook的批评大多集中在其零售价，目前大约在1,000美元左右(有数款产品的价格甚至更高)；不过英特尔表示，该公司的目标是让Ultrabook产品的平均价格降到1,000美元以下。欧德宁在该场分析师电话会议上盛赞众家推广Ultrabook技术并提供不同功能组合产 品的PC厂商，他预期会看到业者们推出更多零售价位在699至1,299美元之间、”差异化程度令人惊讶”的Ultrabook家族产品。 在被问到他认为什么因素将带动Ultrabook降价时，欧德宁表示，主要应该是来自于众多厂商推出具备不同功能组合的差异化产品，所导致的市场竞争：”这会带来产品量，并激励人们在这些先前是利基型的技术领域上保持竞争力。”他举了华硕(Asustek)最近推出的Ultrabook，配备了一款超薄型的500GB硬盘，这就是英特尔以前不曾想过可能会有的。 欧德宁并表示，英特尔也专注于确保有足够的触控屏幕接口Ultrabook可支持即将问世的微软(Microsoft) Windows 8操作系统；直到最近，配备触控屏幕大约要为每台系统添加约100美元的物料清单成本(BoM)，不过他指出，英特尔已经看到在未来的2~3个月，该成本将会有”非常大幅度”的下滑。 “所有以上因素的结合──也就是各家PC厂商、特别是台湾业者锁定的大量化商机──是推动Ultrabook售价与成本下降的主要动力。”欧德宁在电话会议上重申，英特尔预期到2012年底，市场上的消费性笔记本电脑出货中将有四成是Ultrabook：”我非常有信心我们可达到这个目标，所有的迹象都如此表明。” 市场研究机构Technology Business Research (TBR)分析师Beau Skonieczny 在一份近日发表的报告中指出，几乎所有的主要PC供货商都毫不犹豫地接受了Ultrabook这个新产品概念；但是对消费者来说，除非理解该产品能提供的优势，他们会抗拒多花钱购买Ultrabook。 “市场行销将在导正消费者对Ultrabook概念的认知上，扮演重要的角色；”Skonieczny表示：”英特尔与其伙伴总计将投资超过10亿美元行销 Ultrabook，内容包括商业广告、社群网络宣传、品牌活动以及零售点行销等等。”他指出，TBR相信这些活动有助于让英特尔与PC制造商，藉由销售出比传统笔电更多的Ultrabook，拉抬产品平均售价与利润。 编译：Judith Cheng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：Otellini: Ultrabooks to hit 'mainstream' price points，by Dylan McGrath

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{pagination} Otellini: Ultrabooks to hit 'mainstream' price points Dylan McGrath SAN FRANCISCO—Paul Otellini, Intel Corp.'s president and CEO, said Tuesday (April 17) that Intel expects Ultrabooks—the Intel-backed lightweight, low-power notebook computers—would hit "mainstream" price points in the next few months. In a conference call with analysts following Intel's first quarter financial report, Otellini said that more than 21 Ultrabook designs are currently shipping and that more than 100 more would be shipping during the second half of 2012. Otellini said Intel launched earlier this month its largest advertising campaign in a decade to support Ultrabooks. Intel is pushing consumer adoption of the ultra-thin notebook-style computers, which use Intel processors exclusively. Intel has applied for a trademark on the term Ultrabook. Last year, Intel's venture capital arm launched a $300 million fund to bankroll startups working on technologies in line the Ultrabook concept. The knock to date on Ultrabooks has been the retail price of the devices, which currently hovers around $1,000 (several models are priced significantly higher). Intel has said its goal is to see the price of Ultrabooks come down below $1,000. On the analyst conference call Monday, Otellini praised OEMs for pushing Ultrabook technology and offering systems with different mixes of feature sets. He said he expected OEMs to bring to Ultrabooks "an incredible amount of differentiation" at retail price points from $699 to $1,299. Asked what he expected to lead to declining Ultrabook prices, Otellini said mostly competition from many OEMs bringing to market different Ultrabooks with different mixes of features. "That is driving volume and it's driving people to be competitive on some of these previously niche sort of technologies," Otellini said. As an example, Otellini cited an Ultrabook now being shipped by Asustek Computer Inc. which features a low profile, 500- gigabyte hard drive, something that Intel did not think would be possible. Otellini also said Intel was focused on making sure that there were sufficient quantities of Ultrabooks with touchscreen interfaces to support the forthcoming launch of Microsoft's Windows 8, which will support touchscreens for the first time. Until recently, adding a touchscreen has added about $100 to the bill of materials of each system, Otellini said. But, he added, Intel has seen that cost come down "very dramatically" over the past two to three months. "The combination of all of these things—of the OEMs and Taiwan Inc. aiming at these volume opportunities—is really what's driving prices and costs down," Otellini said. Otellini also reiterated on the call that Intel expects that 40 percent of consumer notebooks sold will be Ultrabooks by the end of 2012. "I'm still very confident we can do that," Otellini said. "All the signs are tracking there." In a report circulated late Tuesday, Beau Skonieczny, a computing analyst at Technology Business Research Inc. (TBR), noted that all major PC vendors were adopting the Ultrabook form factor without hesitation. But, Skonieczny said, consumers will be reluctant to pay a premium for Ultrabooks unless they are informed about their benefits. "Marketing will play a crucial role in orienting consumers' perception of Ultrabooks," Skonieczny said. "Collectively, Intel and its partners are investing more than $1 billion in Ultrabook marketing, spanning premium commercials, social advertising elements, branding, and retail positioning." Skonieczny said TBR believes these initiatives will help drive higher average selling prices and margins for Intel and PC manufacturers by promoting more Ultrabook sales over traditional notebooks. Intel's first quarter results beat consensus analysts' expectations, even as sales declined compared to the first quarter of 2011 and profit declined on both a sequential and annual basis.