Intel, Yahoo root for the same candidate

By Mickey Alam Khan

January 14, 2008

Mickey Alam Khan is editor in chief of Mobile Marketer

In this year of endorsements, the leaders of Intel Corp. and Yahoo Inc. came out and spoke up for their candidate: Internet-backed mobile.

Intel president/CEO Paul Otellini told delegates last week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the world was “going ultra-mobile.”

Smaller, more powerful, connected mobile handsets would “deliver a no-compromise Web experience in an ultra-low-power device small enough to fit into your pocket or purse,” Mr. Otellini said.

He expects that mobile Internet devices will be the “next big thing in computing.”

Chip shape
Anticipating a new growth opportunity, Intel will in the next few months ship its first low-power processor and chipset platform for mobile Internet devices.

Yahoo cofounders Jerry Yang and David Filo at CES

Called “Menlow,” the platform has a single chip design named Poulsbo and a processor codenamed “Silverthorne.” The package is said to be five times smaller and consumes ten times less power than the ultra-low-voltage mobile processors unveiled in 2006.

The CES audience also found a serious WiMAX believer in Mr. Otellini.

The executive said while other wireless broadband technologies for global online networking were still in development, WiMAX is deployable today. He projects that an estimated 150 million consumers will be connected through WiMAX by year’s end.

The Intel executive played out his vision of the future. Imagine if an American visiting Beijing could use a pocket-size mobile Internet device to audibly and visually translate building signs, restaurant menus and conversations – in real-time. It’s believable. But he admitted there are four obstacles to this futuristic outlook.

First, microprocessors have to be much more powerful and consume less power on these intelligent mobile devices. Second, the wireless broadband infrastructure needs to be more widely available for high-speed Internet access.

Third, there must be a more intelligent Internet and not one based on hit-or-miss results. Finally, more natural user interfaces need to be created for people to use their voices and gestures on the Internet.

“The opportunity lies on creating these next-generation products, services and business models, but first we all need to overcome the obstacles I just listed,” Mr. Otellini said.

Obviously, Intel’s looking at the mobile Internet from its point of view: how can the company sell more chips?

Mobile + portal = mortal?
For Yahoo, the situation is slightly different. Cofounders Jerry Yang and David Filo took to the stage at CES because they need to prove that Yahoo is the ideal interactive platform for mobile phones and devices.

Mr. Yang and Marco Boerries, executive vice president for Yahoo Connected Life, made three announcements critical to the company’s mobile future at CES.

First was the launch of the Yahoo Mobile Developer Platform for third-party developers to create mobile widgets. MySpace, eBay and Viacom were the first to debut their applications on this platform.

Next was the beta launch of the new Yahoo mobile homepage at http://beta.m.yahoo.com. Users from certain mobile phone browsers can get an update of what’s new since their last visit, such as new emails and upcoming calendar appointments. They will also be able to preview Web content such as news headlines and weather conditions and also access tools to use their favorite services on the mobile Web.

Finally, the Yahoo executives made public their all-in-one mobile flagship, Yahoo Go 3.0. This new product is positioned as an open environment with an improved design, new Yahoo homepage and a complete selection of mobile applications created by third-parties. It is an upgrade of Yahoo Go 2.0.

“Yahoo has today outlined what is possible and that the future is not that far away,” Chief Yahoo Mr. Filo told CES attendees Jan. 7.

“Yahoo is uniquely positioned to make this all a reality,” he said. “We have scale, a huge community of users, great applications and APIs and insightful data. We now have an open platform for third-party developers to build some interesting applications.”

Yahoo CEO Mr. Yang knew the stakes of the interactive game and spelled it out clearly: gateway, or a portal strategy for mobile.

“To be the best starting point, it’s clear that we need to open the Yahoo experience to any device or user,” Mr. Yang said. “Mobile is a perfect example since more consumers are soon expected to come and go from the Net via their mobile phones rather than desktops.

“We’re committed to creating the best and richest mobile experience for all consumers,” he said, “making it extremely personalized to their individual style and needs while opening up the Yahoo mobile platform to allow anyone to participate.”

Unlike Intel’s four, Yahoo has three obstacles: Apple, Google and Microsoft.