The Wall Street Journal reports that Google Glass has picked Intel microprocessors for the next-generation of the prominent wearable gadget. If so, it would be a major symbolic win in the chipmaker's drive to diversify beyond PCs, laptops and servers.
Google Glass is an experimental product and won't, by itself, have a meaningful impact on Intel's sales. But landing Google Glass would demonstrate that Intel's new generations of mobile chips have improved in energy efficiency and functionality to the point where they are a plausible option for wearable gadgets and other emerging technologies.
The current version of Google Glass runs on a processor from Texas Instruments.
After coming late to the mobile game -- and getting nearly shut out of the market for smartphones and tablets -- Intel has vowed it won't be caught flat-footed again.
The chipmaker has helped design a slew of mobile products this year, including earbuds that monitor runners' heart rates and a fashion-minded, connected bracelet called MICA.
Intel says it's on pace to sell 40 million tablet chips this year, bolstered by subsidies the company pays to tablet manufacturers to use its chips. The company hopes to begin easing back on those subsidies next year, reducing its mobile losses as Intel introduces new classes of microprocessor tailored specifically for tablets.
And at its annual investor day last month, Intel said most of Google's ultra-mobile Chromebooks now run on Intel processors instead of mobile designs from rival ARM Holdings.
©2014 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)
