Intel Tops New ABI Research Netbook Platform Vendor Matrix Ranking

Intel (INTC) has been ranked at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research.

Texas Instruments (TXN) and Via Technologies claimed the second and third spots in the company’s new evaluation of worldwide netbook platform vendors.

“Today, Intel has key customers shipping products in volume. x86-based solutions allows netbook vendors the flexibility to create one product with the option to run Linux or Windows,” says principal analyst Philip Solis. “However, we expect ARM-based vendors to become more competitive here as netbooks evolve to be much lighter, thinner, and cheaper with longer battery life, and as consumers come to accept Linux OSs more readily.”

The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets. Vendors are assessed on the important parameters of “innovation” and “implementation” across several criteria unique to each vendor matrix.

For this particular matrix, under "innovation," ABI Research examined the speed with which vendors brought products to market, the flexibility of their solutions or designs, bundling of WWAN, WPAN and/or GPS, the use of x86 or Cortex A-8 (or higher) processors, and the products’ support for 720p HD video.

Under "implementation," ABI Research scrutinized the following criteria: the vendors’ announced design wins, their experience with CE and mobile device vendors, their experience with PC vendors, whether they support all PC operating systems, and whether they support all lower level operating systems.

The Netbook Platform Vendor Matrix is part of a group of vendor matrices for UMDs. The same criteria for platform vendors are used for all three, but the weighting of the criteria is different for each type of UMD.

To view a chart showing the rankings of the “top five” firms in this Vendor Matrix, please visit “Netbook Platform Vendor Matrix.” Registration on the ABI Research website (free) is required. Access to the rankings and profiles of all companies surveyed is available to clients of ABI Research.

This Vendor Matrix forms part of ABI Research’s MIDs and Mobile CE Research Service. For a list of all ABI Research Vendor Matrices, please visit The ABI Research Vendor Matrix.

ABI Research is a leading market research firm focused on the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets.  Utilizing a unique blend of market intelligence, primary research, and expert assessment from its worldwide team of industry analysts, ABI Research assists hundreds of clients each year with their strategic growth initiatives.  For information, visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.