New Intel unit focused on tablets, smartphones

Intel on Wednesday formed a new unit devoted to making chips for smartphones and tablets that have become must-have gadgets in a post personal computer age.

Four units were combined into a Mobile and Communications Group headed by Hermann Eul and Mike Bell, whose background includes having worked on the iPhone at Apple, according to Intel spokesman Robert Manetta.

"We are trying to speed and improve the development of Intel-based mobile devices," Manetta said after the internal announcement was made at the California-based chip titan.

"That is what all this is about," he said. "We are serious about it."

The new unit combines the resources of Intel's Ultra Mobility, Netbook and Tablet, Mobile Wireless, and Mobile Communications groups.

(c) 2011 AFP