Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC.O) is revamping its brand, and (partially) abandons the "Intel inside" concept, which is to be replaced by "Leap ahead". So, away the lowered "e", and welcome to "Leap ahead". This marks the end of a 37 years story that brought the Santa Clara (CA) Co. to the top position in the chip-making industry, as well as to the enviable #5 ranking in brand recognition, worldwide. The new Logo which, as it has been leaked, is blue, featuring an elliptical swirl around the name of the company, a little like... the very successful "Intel Inside" logo(see below) marks a sort of "change within continuity". It will be offically launched during the Las Vegas CES 2006 show this week.
The swirling blue logo will be used mostly in the consumer-oriented business lines of Intel, while the famous "Intel inside" catchphrase will still be part of computer manufacturers' marketing campaigns, as it is the case today. The branding refit coincides with the late promotion of former Samsung marketing guru Eric Kim to the position of Chief Marketing Officer. Mr Kim had been hired away from Samsung in 2004. A strong emphasis will be put on the Centrino chip, while the so respectable Pentium name seems to be played down a bit, and less of a -marketing- concern for Intel.
The fact is, Intel is strongly positioning itself as a consumer-oriented and digital media rainmaker, instead of sticking to its image of CPU supplier. This has nothing to do with chance; since his arrival at the helm of the US giant in May 2005, Paul Otellini's strategy has been to widen the scope, as witnessed by the arrival of the "Viiv" media platform, and the new "Core" mobile processor (previously codenamed Yonah).
In addition, have a look at anticipated curves of PC sales in the next years -and you can safely bet that Intel people have them at hand on a 24/7 basis- and their future, which looks gloomier than those in the shiny and more glamorous mobile devices segments, might well explain the apparent Intel's strong motivation to explore new territories, or at least market about its capabilities in those areas. Add the fact that the Santa Clara wonder is facing tougher competition from companies like AMD, either in its core business or in the mobile devices market, and the equation makes sense. Indeed, this looks more like applying the old principle "do and let others know that you do."
Says Eric Ross, an analyst with ThinkEquity Partners, "The reason they are doing this is they need to move away from the PC to being a solution provider. The real growth for the next five years is cell phones, and for the next 10 years is probably consumer electronics, and Intel has done a really poor job of penetrating those areas." In fact, the "Viiv" concept aims at integrating PCs into your home environment more than today, as well as penetrating schools and businesses. The "Viiv" platform, for instance, is your typical media platform, one of those that can record TV shows and send them to other home devices. Intel's assumption is that such convergence is already in the pipe. "Core", on the other hand, is the " hard core" of "Viiv", aiming at regaining ground against rival AMD in the mobile devices segment.
Woud you believe it? There will be many events in the CE and Home Entertaiment markets in 2006...
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