Intel CEO: Our first smartphone launches this week

Intel's long-awaited smartphone strategy is ready for lift-off, said CEO Paul Otellini.

Otellini, speaking on an earnings conference call, said:

We expect to see another important milestone for our business later this week. The launch of the world's first Intel architecture based smartphone.

Details beyond that were sparse, but Otellini touted a Lenovo-Intel smartphone at CES in January. The company did say that it has made progress on CES announcements with Lenovo and Motorola.

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Intel's smartphone strategy is being closely watched since it represents future growth for the company. The catch is that Intel faces fierce competition from the likes of ARM architecture players Qualcomm and Texas Instruments among others.

The chip giant in data centers and PCs enjoys a lopsided duopoly with AMD.

More: Intel delivers strong Q1, ups outlook, eyes smartphone market