Tablets: Has Intel's time finally come?

To date, Intel® has struggled to make much of an impact on the mobile electronics market. But things may be turning around for the world's largest chipmaker, which seems poised to make some big noise in this space in 2012.

Early signs of this development were seen at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where Intel introduced mobile devices alongside a number of manufacturers, including Lenovo®, Motorola Mobility and others. At the heart of these gadgets is Intel's Atom™ processor Z2460 platform, often referred to as "Medfield."

The Z2460 platform will operate on both smartphones and tablet computers. Intel also used the CES stage to introduce its chipset dubbed "Cloverfield," which is being designed for tablets and hybrid devices that run Microsoft's Windows® 8 operating system. The processors as well as the software will be available in the second half of 2012.

While Intel dominates the traditional PC space, tablet manufacturers have been more inclined to outfit their devices with chips based on the ARM architecture. Whether Intel manages to overcome this challenge remains to be seen, but as CES comes to a close, it is evident that the chipmaker won't go quietly.