Intel’s Mobile Internet Device Sales Much Lower Than Forecast

Intel Atom processor has been getting much traction especially in MID (Mobile Internet Device) market evolved as a new segment to fill up gap between smartphone with powerful notebook web browsing experience. Although there are many design wins claimed by board vendors and OEMs with tremendous amount of new platforms ready for consumer space, but the actual units being sold apparently not meeting initial volumes forecasted by Intel Inc, according to reliable source by MID vendors.

The sales of Intel based MID since the first launch of Menlow platform is claimed to be less than 30,000 units, which is too much lower than the initial forecast by the giant chipmaker of between 150,000 to 200,000 units. Obviously, the data is deviated too much from what being observed by design wins opportunities claimed and seems that those prototype boards could be too expensive before able to penetrate into commercial market and make them affordable for end users. The main reason is due to bad economic situation that affects the global PC sales, besides the unpopularity of 3G cellular network usage in certain regions that MID cannot take full advantage of.

Intel has not responded directly but hopefully with its next generation Moorestown platform targeted for MID market by 2010, the giant chipmaker will able to fulfill what are exactly needed by market.