Gordon Kelly, our man in Vegas, will be weighing in with new probes of Lenovo Skylight and other Consumer Electronics Show goodies soon. In the meantime, I could not resist mentioning Liliputing and Engadget coverage of a Marvell Technology Group smartbook prototype based on the Armada 510 (pictured here from Engadget).
To answer the Liliputing quiz on funny or sad, let’s say that Marvell is showing appropriate initiative by demonstrating an ODM prototype with an older ARM-based Armada, even as it touts the Armada 610 chip set for the next generation. Engadget was impressed by the extreme light weight of the smartbook with 12.1-in. display and full-sized keyboard. At the same time, Liliputing was skeptical of the platform’s four-hour battery life. And we’d agree with Liliputing on “sad”: Marvell’s decision to have Stan Lee show up for a schmoozing session at CES seems to bear a hint of desperation, or at least cheesy marketing.
By this time next year, ARM licensees touting smartbook alliances probably will include Qualcomm, Nvidia, Freescale, Marvell, Broadcom, and possibly Texas Instruments Inc. or even an FPGA vendor or two. On Monday, we pondered whether Freescale was limiting itself by focusing on tablet architectures. Today, it’s apparent that Marvell wants to be a first-tier contender in this market sector, but it must identify its strengths first. Since the company acquired Intel’s Xscale and wireless baseband intellectual property three years ago, it might be appropriate to steer reference designs in that direction – if Marvell doesn’t get squeezed between Qualcomm and Broadcom in the process.
Loring
