Intel’s plan is simple and mirrors the one played against Transmeta. The plan is to KILL the competition, in this case, specifically Via. Via kicked off the market with Isaiah CPU and Intel followed. Once Intel makes the market unviable to make any $$ then Intel pulls back on the reigns. So Via is kinda dead on the netbook side given all the Atom design wins and it doesn’t appear AMD will be getting into the game. Intel will now start pulling back on production because they make 2X the gross margin dollars on Centrino as they do on Atom. Playing out just like Transmeta….. kill the small guy then pull back.

There’s such a thing as too much honesty…

Intel is a very iterative company, and Atom is the first iteration of a new line of processors. It is a shot across ARM’s bow, but its importance for the moment is strategic more than anything else. It does fulfill the need for cheap processors when processing power is not a concern, but Via’s Nano provides the same advantages.

What Atom does demonstrate is that x86 is in the low-power mobile market in a big way, with Intel’s official backing. That’s gotta make ARM manufacturers very nervous.