Paul Otellini: Intel Lost the iPhone Battle, But It Could Win the Mobile War 117
kenekaplan writes "In an interview with The Atlantic before stepping down as CEO of Intel, Paul Otellini reflects on his decision not to make a chip for the then yet released iPhone. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'"
Re:The real question is (Score:2, Interesting)
I suspect (without RTFAing of course) that the CPU in question would not have been x86, but an ARM chip -- Intel used to make them under the StrongARM and later Xscale brands, but sold that line to Marvell; it's conceivable they could have returned.
Intel is king of fab, they keep a half-step to a whole-step of process size ahead of the leading ARM SoC makers, so if they went with their process and ARM IP, they'd be insanely dominating, instead of just competing as now (because the x86's disadvantage almost exactly makes up for the process step's advantage). But they'd rather tie with their own IP than win with something licensed -- which I guess is just as well in the big picture, because the competition among SoC vendors makes for a healthier market, and Intel's domination if they'd gone that route would end many SoC lines.