In a NY Times article, it was announced that Intel Corp. is looking at what to do next since they believe that the PC market is maturing. They are “eyeing the embedded market” among other things. Seems a bit late to me.
In a former life, I found that the embedded market was far more interesting, challenging and was much, much larger than the CPU market. The embedded controller engineers were the unsung heroes of the computing industry. Just think about that new car you have (or wish to have). Whether it’s a hybrid or a high end performance vehicle, it is likely to have no fewer than 12 embedded microcontrollers. A home or office PC usually has one CPU.
Where would you rather have your products designed in – one per unit or multiple per unit? While I believe Intel is late to the embedded microcontroller game, this article does bring up a good point. Amidst all this angst over the economy and shrinking revenues, are you taking time to look at major shifts in the market? Are you looking for disruptive technology? Where are your customers headed?
This may be the perfect time, while product and services volumes are low, to step back and take a hard look at what you will be doing on the other side of this economic re-set. Get your brightest and best employees and colleagues together and brainstorm on how you will transform your business for the next decade.