Intel may have demonstrated a 48-core processor, a chip with 1.3bn transistors, but don't miss the appearance of its reference design for software apps to run Atom processor-based netbooks.
So Intel is going after the Apple apps-store.
Impressive as the 48-core single-chip cloud computer may be, in the next 12 months it is the success of the Atom Developer Program Software Development Kit which will support Windows and Moblin operating systems developers.
Yes, Moblin, so there's Linux support. I guess you don't get that in a 48-core processor.
Netbooks will be the next big battleground for Intel as it comes to terms with a PC market which is going mobile.
Mobile phone chipsets seem a long way away, but Intel has made a strong start in the netbook market against its newest rival ARM.
No sooner has it resolved its disputes with AMD and it has a new rival.
The appearance of the netbook kit, which should help software companies and, Apple apps-store style, individuals design and submit apps for Intel-based netbooks.
How strange the world is. Once dominated by how many transistors you could integrate onto a die, the microprocessor market is soon to be controlled by software, or more specifically the volume of software apps which can be downloaded and run on your processor.
Is this the consumer fighting back?
No longer will we get the PCs (or netbooks) we deserve, but the ones we want.
And Intel can't really complain after all didn't it start the ball rolling on the consumerisation of the processor market with its "Intel Inside" campaign?
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