IDF 2007: Q&A: Ultra mobile PCs and mobile internet devices (MIDs)

The true mobile internet needs a PC, however small, but it might not be running Windows.

By Mary Branscombe in San Francisco, 20 Sep 2007 at 22:50

Intel has revealed the chips it will use for the next generation of ultra mobile PCs and a new, smaller PC form factor that it calls mobile internet devices. We talked to Anand Chandrasekher (AC), senior vice president and general manager of the ultra mobility group, Mooly Eden (ME), general manager of the mobile platforms group and Gadi Singer (GS), vice president of the mobility group and assistant general manager of the ultra mobility group (who launched Intel's first XScale processors for PDas and smartphones) to find out what the new devices are for.

What's the difference between an ultra mobile PC and a mobile internet device?

AC: The easy answer is that I think UMPCs will be fundamentally targeted at productivity and the corporate and vertical spaces while MIDs will be for consumer applications. That doesn't mean there won't be any overlap; some UMPCs will be aimed at 'consumerish' applications but that's the primary delineation. A MID is much more mobile and is not targeted solely at productivity.

How much will MIDs cost and when will they be available?

AC: I expect OEMs to launch products all the way through the first half of 2008 and to continue through the second half of the year too. In 2008 my expectation is you will see MIDs from around $500 up to $800 but OEMs will do a lot of different things and there will be many customisation options. I don't know if mobile carriers will offer subsidised devices; some will and some won't.

So will MIDs be voice devices competing with smartphones?

AC: Absolutely there's room for voice but it will be an OEM choice not our choice; we'll build all the hooks in for it. Our ability to support voice is a lot better in Moorestown than in Menlow. The holy grail of one device does everything; absolutely that will happen and we will target that. But it's a huge market and some people will carry two devices always and some people will carry only one device always.

With Menlow we think we have a leap over our traditional competitors like Via; they don't have a product that gets down to the power zone or the performance zone we have. And when we start to get to Moorestown we start to get to non traditional competitors because we're matching them on power and exceeding them on performance.

GS: Our design target for a MID is about 4" to 7" in terms of the screen size. This is not your volume cellphone; you're looking at the high end of those devices and then a completely new category of mobile devices. It is not a voice device, it is an always connected mobile internet device that is also capable of doing voice but the primary way we are presenting it is as a mobile internet device; it's your navigation, it's your connected entertainment. We expect there to be more dedicated devices too.

With these devices of 4" and above we are going to have a very competitive power environment and a better performance than XScale. With Moorestown you can use it as a media player, use it as a full PC system to do your work and if you want it can also double as a phone on the other side.

ME: What Intel is offering is a platform solution, performance and a power envelope. MIDs can be media players, they can be smartphones, they can be many things; this is definitely a new opportunity due to the power envelope and the simplicity of the Intel architecture. Three years from now there will be all kinds of uses that aren't what we're predicting now.