Ultrathin notebooks key for new Aussie AMD head
A month into his new role, AMD's new country manager in Australia, Peter Chambers, is looking to the ultrathin notebook space in order to boost sales.
Peter Chambers
(Credit: AMD)
Chambers has just replaced Brian Slattery, who was promoted to an Asia-Pacific role based in Singapore.
The chip vendor is pushing ultrathin notebooks to compete with Intel's ultrabook category, and recently rolled out its second-generation A-series accelerated processing unit (APU) for mainstream and ultrathin notebook markets.
Launching with a great amount of fanfare late last year, adoption rates of ultrabooks have been steady, though there are still those who believe that they will suffer the same ill fate as netbooks — a view that Chambers does not share.
"I think the market will continue to move towards thin and light designs," Chambers told ZDNet Australia."We already have some components in the 20mm to 25mm thin notebook space. That has done some great business for us, so we are looking to expand that in the future."
One of the biggest complaints about ultrabooks is the price. While many are still priced under their chief rival, Apple's MacBook Air, the cost difference may not be significant enough to drive demand for the product.
According to Chambers, AMD is in a good position to address "sharper price points and drive greater volume" with its ultrathin notebooks.
AMD is working closely with its notebook vendor partners to develop new ultrathin notebook products containing the new A-series APU, but does not have a strict set of criteria for them to follow. Intel ultrabook vendors, on the other hand, must adhere to guidelines that dictate anything from thickness to pricing.
Chambers sees this as an advantage for AMD, as the partners could be innovative, bringing out machines that have an individual flavour.
"We have allowed the vendors to be very open in their design," he said.
Chambers was formerly AMD's national sales manager. Prior to joining AMD in January 2011, he spent two years at Fuji Xerox.