Chip-maker Qualcomm is developing dual core versions of its popular Snapdragon ARM-based chips, and Qualcomm president Steve Mollenkopf told investors during a recent earnings call that the company is working with 10 different companies on tablets that could use the upcoming dual core chips.
Mollenkopf says it’s too early to say how big the market for tablets is going to be, but Qualcomm isn’t putting all its eggs in that basket. The company’s chips will also be used for smartphones and other mobile devices.
ZDNet reports that products using Qualcomm’s new 3G/4G (LTE) chips could show up at CES in January.
Don’t get caught up in the whole slate/”tablet” mania when examining this news (or anything else for that matter). Computing technology has been getting increasingly compact and mobile since the very beginning. The form factors will continue to evolve, and the slate is merely a fad trend, something old made new again. However, no matter what legitimate mobile computing platform emerges next, there will need to be hardware inside of it. This is what makes announcements like these so important. An “investors call” like this is really a PR event, but I’ve made enjoyed a lot of growth by partnering my money with Qualcomm. This is a company that should be watched because consumer technology has been coming to them and will continue to do so.