Intel and its partners are about to launch the biggest promotion of a
new product category called Ultrabooks since the company’s Wi-Fi based
Centrino launch early last decade. And Microsoft is about to launch a
major update to Windows called Windows 8 that introduces the new “Metro”
touch user interface. Together they are critical products for the
future of each company individually.
In the case of Ultrabooks, I actually see them as the natural
evolution of laptops and not revolutionary as Intel would like us to
think. Rather, they take advantage of the industry’s constant push to
make things smaller, lighter, thinner and with better battery life. For
mainstream users who have had to lug around their rather bulky laptops
for the last five years, they would be justified in asking Intel and the
PC vendors “What took you so long?” given that Apple has had their
MacBook Air on the market for five years and defined what an Ultrabook
should be.
