Sales figures for the last quarter of last year are all in.

Sales figures for the current quarter are starting to become evident.

http://liliputing.com/2014/03/apple-allwinner-dominate-tablet-chip-market.html

The old big dogs are beginning to be flat out-massed by the Chinese Cheapie guys ....


Allwinner is #2 in current sales of Tablets, nipping right at Apple's heels -- Allwinner may well be the largest tablet chip supplier by year's end if the trends continue as they are now.  

Media Tek is slightly smaller than Allwinner is right now, with both companies still growing very rapidly.  Rockchip is 1/4 the size of Allwinner at this point in time and isn't growing nearly as fast.

Phones are still stuck at Qualcomm #1 and Samsung #2 and Apple #3 but there is a brand new guy out lapping most of the rest of the pack -- Spreadtrum is the name of it.

Interesting company Spreadtrum, it actually belongs to the Chinese government (once you peel off all the various concealing stickers and labels that is).  

Remember MIPS?   MIPS got sold off to Imagination (VR graphics) by the Chinese government and Spreadtrum was the ARM based company that was reformed by the Chinese government to carry on, carry on using the new winning technology (ARM).

Yup, Spreadtrum is the one who is working right now to build those custom chipsets for those $25 Firefox smart phones right now.

Looks like Firefox OS gets the nod for the cheapest 3G People's Phone in China.  This means Mozilla foundation is being trusted to be impartial, more so than any of the rest of the old line tech companies and the rest of the non-profit foundations, I guess.  

Certainly the Mozilla foundation has no clear ties to the US government at all at this point in time.  Although the foundation's Netscape & AOL roots were started by some Americans long long ago, it has changed and grown into a very international organization of which one of the largest branches of this far flung international foundation is now located in Beijing China.

As computing world rotates to becomes more Chinese centered, expect Spreadtrum to grow and become more and more important in the phone world.  And remember, Mozilla Foundation is currently working on tablet, phone and PC all-in-one OS products and have shown off these OS products actually running at the last two international shows.

The old school big boys are falling by the wayside more and more quickly now and the most successful of the Chinese Cheapie guys are now poised to take over their slots fairly soon.

Alas poor Apple, even Apple is fated become just a one-of-the-crowd regional based supplier.   Apple had it's big moment of glory last quarter when it finally went past Microsoft in net sales, but now by the end of this current year Allwinner is going to Tablet spank 'ol Apple on the butt, sideways no less.  

Unless Apple uncorks something really significant, Allwinner will spank them for having a couple of more powerful chipsets than Apple has AND for having more tablets shipped by year's end.  

A big ol' two-fer spankin'        with double-handed full arm swings.

Yeowie !!  Poor Apple .....   what was that about "technologically incompetent" you used to be a saying about Samsung?

This is gonna smart like something really really BAD !!!

http://liliputing.com/2014/03/mi-world-portable-computing-system-is-a-599-pho...

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mi-world-portable-computing-system



The new generations of phones, tablets, etc. include the new Bluetooth and cordless charging standards by default.

Many devices will reach out and establish contact with any items in range automatically now.  
My phone will talk through my car's speakers without me doing anything to tell it to do that.

(it's a safety feature of the car, actually)

We got some Texans now who say this is constitutes the future of computing, the always on always connected always available future built of Google Glass and smart wrist watches and phones that talk to you and all the other stuff that is being built into your clothes and car as we speak.

What they say is missing is the main data repository so you can carry ALL your data and programs with you at all times.

This is their vision of what the data repository looks like.



This idea is not new, it is the Ubuntu Edge phone minus the phone part.
Ubuntu's vision put the data repository inside an item you already carry on your person all the time, the phone itself (and the cloud).
These guys put it in a separate device that you would carry with you all the time.   I guess it is for privacy and data security, really.

There are new refinements to their ideas that are based on Bluetooth's new ranging and detecting capability and the rise of Google Glass and other similar items that use the new Bluetooth.
Still, there is no reason all these things cannot be built into a slightly more thick phone.
The big SSD that is required and the more massive battery would be able to be handled by a thicker phone.

(plus, with the phone as the central piece bulk data can be stored in the cloud with zero effort)

We already see cordless keyboards and mice becoming more and more common
(items that can also recharge themselves using a cordless charging station that you would keep nearby for charging your phone, etc)

What I see is an Edge type superphone that you put on the charging pad at night that Bluetooth connects up your monitor, keyboard and mouse while it is sipping up a charge for tomorrow.   Or from your pocket if it isn't charging time yet.

Yes, eventually you will carry a computer with you all the time.   (you do now, actually)
I'm just betting it is inside the phone, not an extra separate little box you have to carry around all the time.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57613369-92/intel-ceo-taking-big-steps-to-ov...

Intel CEO taking big steps to overhaul chipmaker



Intel CEO Brian Krzanich is serious about shaking things up.

"Intel's CEO is putting the world's largest chipmaker on a fast track to change. That become clear Thursday at the company's investor meeting, happening in the shadow of a declining PC market.

Intel will open its factories to "any company" that wants to tap its leading-edge manufacturing capabilities, CEO Brian Krzanich said today.

Why would they want to?   Your stuff makes circuits/gates/transistors oriented ass-backwards .....

To date, Intel has taken a very cautious, small-scale approach to making chips on a contract-manufacturing basis.
Related stories

Separately, in one of the biggest revelations, Intel will develop a phone chip called "SoFIA" that will be built at a factory outside the company for 2014. If investors are looking for a sign of changes at Intel, this is probably the biggest.

That chip will have integrated global 3G and HSPA+ and the communications component will be based on an ARM design.

"SoFIA...is pragmatic targeting the entry-level market," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman in a research note.

And Intel is pursuing the tablet market with a vengeance. The company is aiming to quadruple tablets shipped with its chips to 40 million tablets in 2014.

Another sign is Intel's newfound focus on modem chips. For example, a future multimode modem will integrate the latest broadband tech, including TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA.

"The company is shipping its 7160 LTE product (7260 LTE-A to be out next year) as they believe products are world-class. Focus on smartphones is now focused on big players developing targeted solutions," wrote Freedman."

The BS vapor fumes have begun to clear out some and a little bit of the TRUTH is shining through the clouds.

Intel can't really make a phone chip and they have now quit trying.  

They can't even really copy ARM chipsets very well because every lithography process they own is set up to put the transistor gate ON THE WRONG END OF THE CIRCUIT PATHWAY COMPARED TO ALL ARM DESIGNS.

Merrifield (as pitiful as it sounds now) is the best Intel can do internally.


=======================


http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2308841/intel-details-broxton-and-sofia-chip-p...


"Intel’s chief executive Brian Krzanich has admitted the firm became too “insular” over the past few years and failed to meet market demands, but is hoping new chip designs will help it catch up.

Speaking at the firm’s annual investor relations day on Thursday, Krzanich, who took the helm at the firm in May, said Intel was refocusing to recognise what partners need, not just what Intel wants to develop.

“We have become insular. We have become focused on what was our best product versus where the market wants to move. We will embrace where the market moves. That’s one of the big changes that is occurring,” he said.

“We’re going to become more and more market driven. We’re going to have an outside-in view and we’re going to sense what is going on in the ecosystem and the industry and get ahead of that.

Krzanich said this policy would apply across all areas of the market, including data centres, PCs, tablets and mobile phones.

As part of this Intel announced plans for new chips in its Atom range with two products set for the coming years. The first is called SoFIA and will be ready for entry and value-level products by the second half of 2014.

What’s notable about SoFIA is that Intel plans to have the chip developed outside its own factories, in a recognition of its need to move faster and gain traction in entry-level markets.

The second is called Broxton, which is an Atom processor that is designed to be on a par with Intel’s Core processors. This will be available by mid-2015 and Krzanich touted its capabilities.

"Broxton is targeted towards performance segments of phones and tablets. Think of it as the next-generation Atom," he said."


Intel is searching for someone to design and to produce (make) them a real phone chip.   Look to see them buy somebody like Media Tek or Allwinner outright if they can, or else to go into a co-ownership arrangement with another major player.

Intel has lots of money, but still has no clue as to how to make a phone chip.

And all their wonderful "state of the art" production equipment puts transistor gates on the wrong end of the circuit !!!!

Irony is that ARM set all their stuff up differently originally to avoid lawsuits from Wintel back in the day -- now they are #1 and Intel's production stuff is all ass backwards from what they really need now a days.


All of it is BS -- it has all been BS for the last year at least ....


Qualcomm or Apple should offer to buy Intel's phone business outright and put them out of their misery.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/12/30/intels-sofia-may-be-better-t...

Ever cheerful, the MOTLEY FOOL gives the most optimistic read possible to Intel's latest fiasco.

"One of the biggest disappointments in Intel's (NASDAQ: INTC  ) mobile road map has been the lack of an integrated connectivity/cellular with an applications processor for lower-end smartphones. At Intel's 2012 investor meeting, the company promised an integrated part built on its 22-nanometer FinFET process. The part never materialized. Now, at the 2013 investor meeting, the company announced plans for an integrated low-end part. While it's not quite clear what some may have expected or hoped for, it could end up being much more compelling than initially expected.

SoFIA: initially underwhelming...
At its investor meeting, Intel announced what appears to be a panicked reaction to a need to participate in the low-end/value segments of the smartphone market, and area that Intel believes will comprise roughly 50% of the smartphone market. After all, there's no way that the company can begin to participate in those markets without a highly integrated solution. Remember, these are smartphones that will be selling for roughly $50-$200, so the more that's integrated onto the primary system-on-chip, the better.

The chip family that Intel announced to target this space and that will be used to go head-to-head with Qualcomm, Broadcom, and MediaTek. What seemed initially off-putting about this particular chip was that it is slated to be built at TSMC (NYSE: TSM  ) on its 28-nanometer process. The reason is that Intel's modem/connectivity IP hasn't yet been ported to Intel's own internal processes -- an artifact of the fact that Infineon Wireless, Intel's modem team, had been working on these designs to be built at TSMC before it was acquired. So, without Intel's vaunted process advantage, what advantage could the company possibly have in this space?

It could come down to single-threaded performance
It seems that SoFIA -- both the 3G and the LthatTE versions -- will sport a port of the company's Silvermont processor core initially designed and optimized for the Intel's 22-nanometer FinFET process. Moving to 28-nanometer planar will lead to a performance reduction, probably manifested in the form of lower clock speeds within the same power envelope barring any major micro-architectural changes. But this isn't all bad. Why?

Well, in the low end of the smartphone market, other players such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, and MediaTek will likely stick to Taiwan Semiconductor's 28-nanometer process simply for reasons of cost -- 20-nanometer and 16 FinFET will be more expensive per transistor, so more suitable for higher-end, higher-ASP products. This means that as far as manufacturing at the low end goes, Intel will be on a par with its peers."


Foolish bottom line


With Intel on the same 28-nanometer playing field at the low end of the smartphone/tablet space as its competitors through most of 2015, it may have an architectural advantage, at least on the CPU side of things. However, by the end of 2015/early 2016, Intel will bring to bear its full manufacturing prowess, even in the low-end, high-volume parts of the smartphone market. While Intel needs to execute, the plan looks incredibly compelling to this long-term investor.


Beyond this,  the FOOL and everyone else is dicing out what Intel "says" they will do in 2015 and beyond, although Intel has no process to do it on and no radio to do it with ..... and a rotten record of their BS tanking on them lately in an embarrassing fashion. 

Me,  I think the FOOL is being overly optimistic in still recommending holding on to Intel (while also saying to hold equal amounts of Qualcomm as a hedge).  

Reality is that Intel will NOT BE VERY PRICE COMPETITIVE AT ALL in next's year's low end cell phone marketplace (What? Against a $25 Firefox phone supported by the Chinese Government?) and all their tablet offerings will be based on the very non-integrated Merrifield chipset which has some very well acknowledged critical "extra hardware needed on the motherboard" issues of its very own as well as the "security hook" issues and all the anti-FOSS locked-in OS issues that will impact its overall acceptance in the open source friendly Android world marketplace.

Intel will still have to be paying another competitor/vendor to make their chipsets, which means for the next several years Intel will still have to be taping a 50 cent piece out of pocket on top of every one of its phone and tablet chipsets.  

And that is on top of bribing/paying somebody else for the early on production time at TSMC since their own private line at TSMC is pretty much toast at the moment ....

Lastly, both Media Tek and Samsung have already announced 20 nm middle and low end products for current shipment and have promised a move to 16nm during this same general time frame for their top end when Intel is still going to be locked into 28nm because of their FCC radio issue.

I expect Intel stock to go down, and perhaps it will make a price rally whenever they get a home grown process/design that will actually run on their own equipment.   And get a smaller nm radio worked out and get it fully approved by the FCC.

Real issue is the 64 bit timing on the rest of the whole ARM world --- we are looking for 64 bit ARM to be 20nm and some on 16 nm by 2nd half 2014 with more die shrinks to follow in 2015 and 2016.  

By the time Intel has 14nm actually in real production, so may the rest of the ARM Big Boys.

 (get real, it is all TSMC's same lithography process lines after all)

Intel will have to "pay to play" in a large fashion to maintain any relatively significant market share during this critical period of time.

PC as a supporting cash cow is still tanking strongly and the Intel surplus bank account is finite -- at some point in time the Intel stockholders are going to get tired of "tape the 50 cent piece on top of every chipset" and make it stop.

When that merry go round stops, where will Intel be?   5 years invested into the phone world and they still haven't made a penny in real profits?

    Boy, I really do hope folks won't figure out just how screwed up we really are ......


Last, even sadder thought -- perhaps Intel is actually trying to save some money by having Global and TSMC build their not so wonderful non-integrated phone and tablet chipsets for them.

Intel has horrendous big price tags on the chips they actually produce, it could be because they carry so much overhead (big salary boys).

Instead of making them at Intel and having to sell them way below cost (booking a loss on each one) -- instead get a really good price from TSMC for BIG VOLUME and mark the chips up just a tiny bit.

That way they book a profit (small, yes, but a profit) while still freezing out all the little guys in phone and tablet land (their real goal).

It is the little guys who are running away with the market instead of letting Intel and Microsoft manage it ....  lots and lots of them pesky little guys.    Need to get rid of all of them .... Bill Gates sez so and he's the Technical guy with all the moves.


===================================


Now, if TSMC and Global told Intel, "No thanks, you are our direct competitor and we are not going to build you your chipsets at the detriment of our existing loyal customers" that would put a different spin on things completely.    Intel and MS both would be out of play within 2 years.  

But Money Talks ....  and Intel isn't even a bit player right now compared to Qualcomm, Samsung or Media Tek.   These existing phone guys need to band together to freeze Intel out in the cold until they quit twitching.

It is not like Intel was willing to build the ARM guys any chips during the big chip shortage two years ago -- Intel was soooo not interested in helping anybody back then.

If allowed to, Intel is going to flat screw up all the little guys while hogging all the production time for their own lame chipsets -- meanwhile working on 14mn and below for a real phone chip to be built on their own processes.

(once they understand how a phone really should work, with all the pieces integrated together).

But one thing Intel does get is that they MUST show a presence in the new markets right now .... if they miss this 1-2 year window and the first phones go into the hands of the new computing people with no Intel around anywhere, then they will never be considered by them again.

Even if it means going in strictly as a rebrander of ARM technology that is being built at a standard Fab house.   Even if it means selling it all at a loss to get in there.   Being a customer of ARM and Fabs until they can get their 14 nm act together.

Then instead of a customer they will come charging out as a competitor again ....  (sadly, it may never actually happen, Intel may be shot in the foot forever)

.....  Oh, btw TSMC, will you build this new INTEL 14nm TSMC killer chipset over on my 14nm line for me at the same price as the other one?   Yeah, we got the line all put back together again -- only took a year to get all the stuff rebuilt from the fire ....   But that EUV focusing stuff is really really hard to do and we keep burning stuff up, so we want you to do it for us, OK?

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2013/11/21/intel-finally-opens-up-fabs2c...

Intel's PR department has put on their rose colored glasses and have come out with their comprehensive vapor plan that explains why Intel is now begging TSMC and Global to make their integrated phone chips for them.

The vapor plan also "explains" why Intel is suddenly trying to get people to let Intel build them their own designed chips on Intel's private processes where Intel still has process capability to do so (22nm and up, older stuff).   Intel is also offering "their design expertise" up for rent.

14nm has totally dropped off the Intel vapor plan -- it is no longer mentioned anywhere.   Instead, 10mn is mentioned
(I wonder if it is the same lithography level ???)

Intel also fails to mention that Sophia & crew are going to be retrograde 28mn chips -- Intel can't make them on their own 22mn process because of inherent gate structure ass-backwardness and the fact Intel has no radio to build them with (Intel is buying a 28mn TSMC radio).

The pure BS smoke and mirrors part of this presentation is all the stuff about 10nm next year -- it is pure BS -- if you can't do 14nm you sure as hell can't do 10nm.  AND the entire field of EUV has become somewhat doubtful as a real, viable & reliable long term production capable process in the eyes of some of the real lithography publication's senior pundits.

Once again, a plethora of funny catchy new vapor chip names for some more fictitious chipsets that will never be designed or built, simply so Intel can keep on doing the same endless shell game with whatever they really wind up building.

And saying your 22nm fabs are all full up on PC stuff right now is really fairly ludicrous  --  the PC industry is as flat as a pancake right now with the only thing selling well being the Chromebooks and Chromeboxes (and they use tablet chipsets).   If you were full up, you wouldn't be trying to rent out your process lines and your engineering staff.

If this were true, then Intel would be building some new 22nm lines.   But they are not, instead they are offering up their existing 22nm process capacity to anyone who can pay their overly high production prices.

And IBM is now trying to sell off their chip making arm completely, business is so good out there in PC land they can't do much with it lately.

Seriously, AMD is showing the way for PC chip making and Video card chip making for everybody going on out into the future.

Focus all your lithography to be the same size and circuit flow pattern as the current general cell phone lithography, that way any of the major fab houses can run off your stuff quickly in real volume at a minimal cost (and trouble) to you.  

Yes, you are selling "phone stuff" to the PC people, but it is equal to or better than the PC level stuff it replaces.

AMD is selling very good (not stellar, but very good) video chipsets using standard 28mn cell phone lithography processes.   They use 1/3 less power than the competing NVIDIA chipsets and run without cooling fans (some of them).

AMD is on to something -- SOC video and PC chip production is a no brainer if you stay at the current popular cell phone lithography levels and design flow types.

http://www.mercurynews.com/60-second-business-break/ci_24935442/biz-break-int...

The Lead: Intel stock falls after chipmaker confirms layoffs, stagnant 2014 forecast

"Intel said Friday that it would cut about 5 percent of its workforce in 2014, an announcement that arrived one day after the Santa Clara chipmaker detailed a financial decline in 2013 that is not expected to improve this year.

The purge represents about 5 percent of the roughly 108,000 jobs that Intel had on its payroll at the end of December. The company intends to jettison the jobs without laying off workers, said Intel spokesman Bill Calder. The reductions instead will be achieved through attrition, buyouts and early retirement offers.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/tech/Intel-Layoffs-Chipmaker-to-Cut-More-Than-...

The company didn't estimate how much money it hopes to save by eliminating jobs. But Intel needs pare its expenses if it hopes to end a two-year slump that has seen its earnings fall from $12.9 billion in 2011 to $9.6 billion in 2013. Intel is forecasting its revenue this year will be about the same as in 2013, making it unlikely its profits can rise without cost cuts.

This marks Intel's first significant job cuts since a company insider, Bryan Krzanich, succeeded Paul Otellini as CEO eight months ago."


======================


The stockholders, through their Board of Directors, will begin to FORCIBLY tell Intel that they can't throw all that crazy stupid money down the rat hole.  

Expect Intel to begin to moderate their crazy loss leader spending behaviors shortly.  This likely means NOT bribing Lenovo to build them phones any more, etc. etc.

Look for Microsoft (Nokia) to be about the only ones buying Intel's newest chipsets fairly soon as the only reason Bay Trail moved as well as it did was the 50 cent piece that was taped on to the top of each one of them.

Now that the BS vapor fog bank has been rolled back, look for Intel to move down both in rankings and in stock price as investors and users are beginning to see they have been mislead by Intel quite a bit of late.

Intel will continue to trim off their dead wood way past the 5% point as their earnings begin to be forced by the stockholders to support the remaining real company size.

Look for Intel's board to find them a new CEO and possibly a new COO for the company since the last ones wear the horns for all of the current serious mess that Intel is in right now.

And, if you think MS and Intel falling down into mid-pack rank level has begun to affect folk's buying habits, you would be wrong (mostly).

People in the USA still aren't buying a lot of anything, other than a casual use tablet or a new phone.   Their old stuff still works, until MS kills it that is.

There is a building sense of irritation with MS, as like Serowbot people feel like they are being jerked off their 1980's vintage rides and forced to buy a sort of motorcycle that they really don't want at all.

Chrome boxes and books are doing fairly well with the irritated older people, fairly well but not stellar.   Most folks are young enough they were already phone/tablet people already, with the PC just being the sit down and type something device that sat on the desk in front of the office chair.   The old folks don't have all these spare devices, so they are the ones getting ruffled the worst as XP is killed out from under them.




You can see growth here in Linux and in Chrome OS, but nothing totally stellar is showing up yet.

Yes, doubling inside one quarter (4 months) is "rapid growth movement" but until the percentages that are doing the doubling become larger it will be of no real consequence to the market in general.

One pundit correctly said "After all, it is within the standard rounding error right now anyway".

And who does trends over just the length of four months anyway?   Give us consistent tracking over 3-4 quarters and you might have something to talk about.   A nice solid year would be better .....