Intel Corp. has finally realized that the personal computer industry is losing over smartphones and tablets, thus making a shift to creating a Web-based TV service and seeking partners to make it possible.
Sources of AllThingsD reveal that the chip making company originally planned to launch the web-TV service by fourth quarter of 2013 but had it delayed after chief executive officer Brian M. Krzanich joined the company in May. The current leadership would like to focus on creating Intel chips for mobile devices instead of another product that the company is not familiar with.
However, according to the sources, Intel is not giving up with its web-TV project and has been seeking for partners who are familiar with the technology. Potential candidates are the online retailer Amazon.com which has a pay-video service and Samsung Electronics which manufactures TV sets and other electronic devices. Both companies did not comment when asked by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, investors are skeptic if the web-TV project will be successful. RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman told Bloomberg that Intel already tried a similar move before but wasn’t successful.
“They have talked about being not just the set-top box but the ecosystem,” Freedman said. “And in the past, when Intel has tried to mess with ecosystems outside of PCs, they have been unsuccessful.”
Once Intel’s web-TV comes out, it is expected to compete with current players such as Time Warner Cable Inc. and DirecTV. The latter has about 20 million subscribers and is the biggest satellite TV provider in the U.S.
It is not just Intel that has planned to venture on the web-TV service, Sony, Google, and Apple are also creating their own web services and already ahead of Intel in that aspect. These companies already have an established market of younger people who prefer to watch shows from their smartphones.
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