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Intel CEO on Android chaos, Apple control

Intel chief Paul Otellini talks about the lack of order in the Android universe versus Apple's tightly controlled platforms at the chipmaker's investor meeting. He believes Google will try to remold Android into a more controlled business model.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
2 min read

Intel CEO Paul Otellini sees "chaos" in the Android universe versus control in Apple's world, but he believes Google will gravitate to a more controlled model.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini speaking at the company's investor meeting on Tuesday.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini speaking at the company's investor meeting on Tuesday. Brooke Crothers

"Apple's objective is to control everything end to end so they can control the experience and the pricing," Otellini said Tuesday at Intel's investor meeting in Santa Clara, Calif.

Google's Android, however, couldn't be more different, according to Otellini. "Google's model is to get as broad a base as possible because, how do they get paid? They don't get paid by selling Android. They get paid by clicks. At the end of the day, the more pervasive Android is, the more money Google ultimately makes because advertising revenue can accrue from it," he said, responding to an analyst who asserted that Android's growth is being driven by the dynamics of fragmentation.

Otellini continued. "I think there is some growing pains that Android is going through...How do you create order out of chaos?"

He compared Android today with Microsoft's past trials and tribulations when trying to impose order on Windows. Over the years, Windows has run on a variety of platforms, including DEC's Alpha, IBM's PowerPC, ARM, and MIPS before settling predominantly on Intel's x86 architecture.

Fragmentation will be rectified over time, he said. "The notion of compatibility forwards and backwards, the notion of verification...is something you'll see imposed on the Android ecosystem over time. If you read the press about [Android's] anti-fragmentation agreements that's exactly what's happening today," he said.

Otellini also tried to allay concerns about Apple shifting its Mac line to another chip architecture down the road. "[Apple's] growth in Macs has quadrupled since they shifted to Intel, their market share has quadrupled since they shifted to Intel. And that value proposition has served them very well."

"I don't see their Mac line moving in any different direction anytime soon," he said.