Consumer Electronics

Portable Intel (INTC) (AAPL) (RIMM) (NOK)

Intel (INTC) has decided to push into the chip market for small mobile devices which can access the internet. According to The Wall Street Journal "Intel, which largely missed out on the market for chips used in cellphones, is using a technology conference in Shanghai to talk up gadgets it calls MIDs, for mobile Internet devices."

The idea seems good, but why anyone would want the devices is a mystery, especially with the ultra-smart smartphones coming to market from Apple (AAPL), Samsung, LG, RIM (RIMM), and Nokia (NOK). These handsets, not much bigger than a regular cellphone can work with both WiFi and 3G cell service.

Getting consumers to buy a class of devices which they have never seen, particularly when the devices which they have now work so well is a losing game. Intel has tried to invent a market to create sales before. The company built chips to power the wired home. Intel is out of that business now.

Stick to the knitting.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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