CES 2012: Intel’s Otellini Unveils Ultrabook; New Push to Smartphones and TV

Intel, the No. 1 chip maker, will make a major push into the smartphone sector, even as it continues its headway in the laptop and tablet market with its second-generation Ultrabook chip, CEO Paul Otellini said.

At a keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the Intel CEO said dozens of manufacturers would ship new Ultrabook laptops this quarter, including Dell, the No. 2 U.S. PC maker.

Dell Vice Chairman Jeff Clarke joined Otellini to debut Dell's XPS 13 Ultrabook, a 13-inch laptop that the Round Rock, Tex.-based company will start taking orders for next month. Other vendors with Ultrabooks at the convention include Samsung Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Acer and Asus.

This company is not just about computers, said Otellini, 61, only the fifth CEO in Intel's 44-year history. He said the Santa Clara, Calif.-based giant will make a major push into the smartphone sector.

He was joined by Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha, who said the two companies had formed a multiyear, multiproduct alliance, which should see its first products by the second half of 2012.

Motorola Mobility agreed to be acquired by Google for $12.5 billion in a deal scheduled for completion soon. Otellini is a Google director.

Jha said the Intel-based phones will use its Atom chips, the forerunner of the new Ivy Bridge -- or 22-nanometer -- Ultrabook chips that entered production last quarter.

Earlier Tuesday, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said his company, which dominates the mobile chip market, would unleash its new Snapdragon chip to battle Intel in the tablet, laptop and home entertainment sectors.

Otellini also said China's Lenovo Group would start selling the K800 smartphone using Intel's Atom chip next quarter.

Looking ahead, Otellini said Intel was just beginning to deploy the new Ultrabook chips and would start designing them into tablets, pay-per-view TV applications and a shop-at-home feature licensed by Mastercard International to allow consumers to order products online and then either tap their MasterCard or their smartphone onto an Ultrabook tablet or PC.

In its stand at the CES, Intel is showing several tablets from Lenovo with the Atom chip, as well as in-house tablet prototypes.

The chipmaker also has signed a new distribution deal with Dreamworks and Technicolor to permit online ordering of films from those Hollywood companies and others. The Intel function will be labeled MGo and be sign up other distributors.

Intel shares closed Tuesday at $25.59, up 12 cents, just slightly below their 52-week high of $25.92.