AMD to Resell Transmeta Chip for Pay-as-You-Go PC 28
InfoWorldMike writes "InfoWorld.com reports that AMD will resell Transmeta's chip for Microsoft's pay-as-you-go PCs. Transmeta said that they had struck an exclusive arrangement for AMD to brand the specialized Efficeon chip under their own name and resell it worldwide. AMD plans to use Microsoft FlexGo and its Efficeon deal with Transmeta as part of its 50X15 initiative, which aims to build a global network of partners and business models to help connect 50 percent of the world's population to the Internet by 2015." From the article "For the first time, Transmeta and the Efficeon technology will have the brand and power and reach of AMD," said Art Swift, president and chief executive officer of Transmeta. "[Our goal is] to reach as many consumers in the world as possible in emerging markets."
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even desktop PCs are starting to hit a heat wall now.
More power = more heat = more fans = noisy heap o' crap. Noone wants a noisy heap o' crap.
This doesn't make a lot of sense... (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, if you're selling PCs in sub-saharan Africa where there isn't a good power net, something like this might make sense- But this story says these PCs are being sold in places like Mexico/Brazil/Russia- Last I checked, a power outlet isn't too hard to come by in these places...
The other possiblity is that they are embedding the cost metering of the PC directly into the Transmeta "Code Morphing" software that allows Transmeta chips to emulate other PCs... maybe this would allow the metering to be done at a low enough level inside the chip that it would be hard to hack the "metering" out of the final PC... If this was the case, however, they would have trumpeted this in the press release.
Here's what I suspect is really happening: AMD and Transmeta have probably struck an unannounced deal licensing some of the valuable Transmeta patents. However, since Transmeta has been hurting lately and probably is seeking extra funding to survive, AMD threw Transmeta a little PR nugget that allows them to forecast increasing chip sales in the near future to help secure additional capital- just my guess.