Low Power, Low Price For Real.

We have posted previously that the low end market is about to explode, some 13m units projected. Well Intel evidently wants a piece of that pie and not just leave it to VIA to pick up the spoils. Intel has recoded a pending processor design as Atom. –

Get ready for a new brand in the already cluttered world of tech marketing. Intel has chosen Atom as the name for its super small low-power processor formerly known as Silverthorne, due to be launched during next month’s IDF in Shanghai.

Silverthorne - sorry, we mean Atom - is the child of a ground-up effort to create a new processor for the ultra-mobile market, ranging from UMPCs to mobile Internet devices. There’s even the chance it could pop up in a future generation of the iPhone.

Part of this package will be the development of a new platform design called Menlow which will utilize processors based on the Atom chip set. Running at 2.5w this will be a miserly user of power.

2008/2009 is going to be a very interesting year with many introductions of product not seen before at prices unheard of. Some of the big makers might see their fortunes flag a bit if they don’t adjust to the new paradigm.

Linky.