One thing worth considering is that parts of Intel may not so thrilled about the Atom. It's a really low-margin chip and it's being manufactured at TSMC, both o

One thing worth considering is that parts of Intel may not so thrilled about the Atom. It's a really low-margin chip and it's being manufactured at TSMC, both of which are somewhat out-of-character for Intel. When Craig Barrett left as chairman of Intel's board last year, they didn't follow the usual plan of having the CEO take over as chairman and a new guy taking over as CEO. Instead, Barrett just left with Otellini staying as CEO. It's tempting to speculate that Barrett, who rose up through the manufacturing arm of Intel, was unhappy about the commoditizing and outsourcing going on. Maybe other parts of Intel are unhappy too. See this: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2009/01/27/45340/craig-barrett-resignation-sparks-intel-manufacturing-queries.htm http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2009/01/27/45340/c... . It's difficult to see what alternative Intel has though. For consumers Windows is dying and the x86 lock-in is dying with it, so if they don't compete on price, ARM will eat their business from below. But a market-leading company like Intel really hates it when their main product gets commoditized.