CES 2013: Intel Corporation (INTC) Fails To Present Computing Future

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Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is concerned about the future of the computer. That’s not really surprising. The company is one of the most important in the electronics industry, and relies on innovation in the space in order to sell more processors, its primary revenue generator.

CES 2013: Intel Corporation (INTC) Fails To Present Computing Future

The company is, however, more forceful and resourceful in its shaping of the future of computing than you might expect a chip maker to be. Back in 2012, the company developed a design or an ultrabook, a standard the PC industry has more or less conformed to since. While the firm is still pushing that standard, it has other ideas about the future of computing, and it’s showing them off at CES 2013.

Intel thinks perception will be one of the most important drivers of innovation in computing going forward, and this necessitates a huge overhaul in the ways that people interact with their computers. The alterations in the computer interface driven by the advent of touch screen devices is not enough for the firm. They need to go further.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) demonstrated some of these new types of interfaces at CES 2013. Perceptual computing, a concept being pushed by the company, will involve a large amount of gestures of varying types, allowing users to interact with data in a more playful, practical way.

The company’s examples of this are underwhelming. One demonstrative unit allows the user to shoot cartoon lasers from their hands on a screen, a second involves the user trying to catch on screen golden coins with the same technology. Clearly the devices have a long way to go before they will be anywhere near ready for consumer use.

The company’s depiction of the future of the interface seems to have been already begun by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Apple has been pushing for more voice control since its 2011 launch of Siri, the personal assistant. Microsoft’s Kinect, originally an Xbox peripheral, manages both voice control and 3d gestures.

The computer interface is going to change drastically in the years ahead. The quick absorption of the touch screen into everyday life has shown that if a technology is intuitive, it will be very easily accepted by wide audiences. If it is counter-intuitive, or, like the Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), useless, it will simply not catch on.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is still desperately trying to break into computing’s future, but these interfaces weren’t new at the launch of the Kinect, neither today nor yesterday. The company is going to have to do better if it seeks to put a framework on the future of computing.

This demonstrations, as with so many at CES 2013, is unlikely to result in real products any time soon. Right now Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is concentrating on developing mobile processors and getting them into as many smart phones and tablets as possible. The company’s future relies on that if noting else.

Intel will release its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday January 17. Investors will be looking for news on the company’s mobile sector, as well as positive numbers on PC sales.

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