Intel posts three billion dollar quarterly net profit

NEW YORK (AFP) – US computer chip giant Intel posted a quarterly net profit of nearly three billion dollars on Tuesday and record revenue of more than 11 billion dollars.

The Santa Clara, California-based technology bellwether reported third-quarter revenue of 2.95 billion dollars, up from 1.85 billion dollars during the same period a year ago.

Earnings per share of 52 cents were slightly better than the 50 cents expected by Wall Street analysts.

WOW. A cool Billion dollars a month in net profit. And we keep hearing all the time how the PC is dead, the iPad and smartphones and tablets are destroying the market, PCs are going away.

Well, looks like - on the strength of their bigger processors used in normal laptops and desktops and servers - those claims are bogus. You don't earn $3 billion in profit (and a healthy 27% margin, second only to Microsoft in the tech sector) from a dying, shrinking market!

Tablets may have the buzz, but I think we just saw the facts that desktops and laptops still have the market, and aren't giving up any time soon...

Overseas economies - mainly in Asia - are driving the market now, not the US. Demand for computers and systems is skyrocketing outside the US. That in turn means the big boys - Intel, IBM, Microsoft - will continue to see ever-increasing revenue and profit, even as the US market shrinks.

We’re no longer a “one country market”. Companies that focus on the US market are now focusing on a shrinking market...

It’s an economy strategy...

The US economy is barely growing - an anemic 0.2-0.5% GDP growth, in real terms. Meanwhile, you have most of Asia roaring along at 5%+ growth.

If you want to sell new products, where would you go? The market that’s stagnant, and is going to get shut down even further with increased taxation, or overseas where the economies are exploding and people have money - LIQUID CASH - to spend?

Tech is on fire.

Companies are not willing to take on employees...and with the money they are saving they are investing in technology.

Products and services.

Again, Tech is on fire...and you'll see it in the Market over the next 3-12 months.

Wait til you see Cisco, IBM and HP numbers...not to mention VMware and EMC.

> And we keep hearing all the time how the PC is dead, the iPad and smartphones and tablets are destroying the market, PCs are going away... Tablets may have the buzz, but I think we just saw the facts that desktops and laptops still have the market, and aren't giving up any time soon...

Of course, but.

Three cheers for Intel -- that's a great achievement, and nothing against their accomplishment.

But did you read Asimov's "Foundation" Trilogy? The Empire was dying -- being eaten away at the edges for centuries -- long before Trantor (the ruling center of the Galaxy) itself showed signs of trouble.

Modern desktop and laptop PCs are but two phases -- these phases are measured in decades, of course -- of small computer evolution. Nothing is forever.

Something will replace the desktop PC (both Windows and Mac). Will it be an all-in-one iMac-style machine? Something will replace the laptop PC (both Windows and Mac). Will it be a tablet, a smartphone, or something else? I don't know, I don't have that kind of vision.

But those who have that vision see a variety of things, and the latest wild products and their successors will push in various directions as the next phase of small computers shapes up.

What is the market now for 10-pound portable computers? What is the market now for all-in-one computers based on CRTs, like the late-90's iMacs?

I'd give it five more years, maybe more but not ten, before the PC (contemporary desktop and laptop style, Windows and Mac) is clearly seen as a declining arena. But decline it will.

Decline or evolve? That’s the question... The PC will be around for decades more. The PCs of today bear little resemblance in form OR function or UI to those of 30 years ago, yet it’s still a PC.

Cars also evolve - hybrids of today look nothing, and operate nothing like a Model A. But they’re still cars.

My bet is that PCs don’t go away until voice command is rock-solid; it’s hard to beat a keyboard, and on-screen/touch-screen keyboards simply do not work accurately or speedily enough for most people, other than a 20-30 word entry. True speech-to-text will be needed, and that includes multi-lingual support. Until that time, keyboards simply will continue to dominate, and the PC form factor will remain basically static: CPU, display, and keyboard. Sometimes all-in-one like a laptop, sometimes separate, but still a PC.

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