Intel's high hopes for Ultrabooks

Intel posted record quarterly earnings yesterday, the highest quarterly revenue in the company's history. Intel is hoping to keep the good times rolling by placing many of its hopes on the success of Ultrabooks.

"Industry and consumer interest in Ultrabooks is high," Otellini said during Intel's earnings conference call on Tuesday afternoon, citing a sleek and light form factor and excellent battery life as just a couple of examples as to why — not to mention price tags starting at less than US$1000.

"Everything we envision for Ultrabooks presumes that this happens at mainstream price points," Otellini explained. "We don't think that people are going to spend more money on average for computers in the future than they do today."

When asked by investors whether or not Intel would budge on the sub-US$1000 price bar, Otellini reassured that will be the limit.

He acknowledged that in today's PC ecosystem, thin usually costs more — and slimness is one of the core (if not the core) selling point for Ultrabooks. However, Intel's CEO posited that the company's US$300 million fund dedicated to the advancements of Ultrabooks is really accelerating the volume price points through investments and commitments for those components.

"I think we've really thought this through in how to get volume and profitability at the same time," Otellini replied.

But this is just the beginning for Ultrabooks, Otellini reminded. Over the next two generations for Ultrabooks, we can expect to see these ultraportable notebooks evolve with touchscreens as well as always-on, always-connected capabilities, all at mainstream price points while offering a true PC experience.

Ultrabooks have been through production, and we'll see some of the first ones arrive by the holiday shopping season, but more than 70 designs are already in the pipeline.

Via ZDNet US