Windows Phone Thoughts: Intel Hopes to Gain Lost Ground in 2006

"Intel Corp. is looking to regain its footing in the processor market for PDAs - a business that is heating up again, according to IC Insights Inc. "In the past couple of years, Samsung has come on strong in the PDA CPU segment, offering ARM-based processors," said Robert Lineback, an analyst with IC Insights, a market research firm. "Others like Freescale and Texas Instruments are also challenging Intel, which has the lead in PDA central processors but has fallen behind the others in applying process technologies below 0.13-micron," Lineback said. "Until the launch of 'Monahans,' Intel's entire XScale lineup has been based on very mature aluminum 0.18-micron technologies. Intel is playing catch-up from a process point of view in this CPU segment.""

Over the past few months, we've seen the Samsung S3C24xx and TI OMAP processors take a stranglehold on Intel's dominance in the PDA processor market. 2006 should prove to be an interesting year with Intel hoping to release a new line of XScale processors in a bid to grab back a portion of the lost market share. You know what they say? Competition breeds innovation. I don't care who comes out on top. Just give us some nice processors. ;)