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Intel CEO: HP, Dell Ultrabooks coming in 2012

Intel's CEO says in a TV interview that Hewlett-Packard and Dell will enter the Ultrabook market next year and also expresses shock at HP's announcement that it was mulling a spin-off of its PC business.

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
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Hewlett-Packard and Dell will enter the Ultrabook market next year, Intel's CEO told Fox Business today. He also said he was "stunned" by former HP CEO Leo Apotheker's announcement that the company was thinking about spinning off its PC business.

Speaking to Liz Claman of Fox Business Network, Paul Otellini said that all major PC companies will eventually have Ultrabooks--the ultrathin Windows laptops that compete with Apple's MacBook Air.

"All the major brands. Going into next year, you'll see new designs come out from Dell and HP," he said. "And then when we introduce Ivy Bridge, our next processor, there's 60 more designs are coming out."

Then, when Windows 8 is released next year, hybrid Ultrabook designs will emerge, he said. "When Windows 8 comes out, you'll see hybrid models that integrate the functions of a notebook and a tablet into a single device," he said.

Asus UX21 Ultrabook. HP and Dell will enter the market next year, according to Intel CEO.
Asus UX21 Ultrabook. HP and Dell will enter the market next year, according to Intel CEO. Asus

Otellini also responded to a question about former HP CEO Leo Apotheker's announcement to possibly spin off its PC business back in August. "I thought...What is he thinking? I hope that they decide to stay in the business," he said.

Otellini implied that HP may be shooting itself in the foot.

"Print and ink is such as an important part of HP. And over time, all of us are printing less stuff. More and more people are [using] digital images," he said. "So, to leave digital consumer electronics would, to me, be a very strange decision to make. When your whole business model is tied up in imaging."

And he'll have an opportunity to tell HP's new CEO Meg Whitman a lot more later this week. Otellini said added he will be meeting with Whitman on Friday.

(Via Forbes)