Meanwhile, to help promote its mobile message, Intel has put some feet on the street in New York. The chipmaker has representatives walking and riding skateboards and scooters around Manhattan, demonstrating Pentium 4-M notebooks on the spot and passing out information. The Santa Clara, California-based company has also set up kiosks around the city at areas such as Pennsylvania Station, a train and subway hub. These kiosks, including a wireless-equipped tent at Columbia University and another at Bryant Park, offer a look at how people use notebooks. In addition, Intel is using the day to shed some light on the future of the Pentium 4-M. With the launch of new, lower-priced versions of that processor, Intel has begun working in earnest to displace its Pentium III-M chip for all notebooks larger than 4.5 pounds or so. At a luncheon following the initial press kickoff, Don MacDonald, Intel's director of mobile platforms, said, "The Pentium 4-M will cross over by the end of this year," shipping more units than the III-M. The company will maintain its low-priced mobile Celeron chip and low-voltage Pentium III-M chips for smaller notebooks until the arrival of Banias, a chip designed from the ground up for portables, in the first quarter of next year. Intel plans to move Pentium 4-M to lower prices, though it won't be able to do so without competition. AMD, its archrival, recently introduced its new mobile Athlon XP chip, running at speeds up to about 1.5GHz. The company contends that the mobile chips will perform as well as or better than the newest Pentium 4-M chips. But Intel will continue with its proliferation plan. It has already said it will increase production of the Pentium 4-M even more quickly than it did its desktop Pentium 4 chip. That chip began shipping in greater numbers than the Pentium III within about 11 months of its release. Also among Intel's plans is a drive to higher clock speeds. The chipmaker has already said it will offer a 2GHz Pentium 4-M by the end of the year. Executives on Tuesday are likely to elaborate on the company's plans for that chip. The company further touted its plan to expand public wireless networks -- a way to encourage more sales of Intel-based notebooks. Under Intel's Wireless Enablement Program, originally announced at the Intel Developer Forum in February, the company is backing the build-out of such networks through investments in various businesses. "Today, we have already invested in a couple of companies who are already developing" wireless networks, MacDonald said at the luncheon. "The key, though, is the number of (notebooks). We've got to get tens of millions" of notebooks into the market. MacDonald said Intel Capital, the company's investment arm, had put money into STSN, a company building wireless LANs (local area networks) in hotel rooms. The Wireless Enablement Program is part of a previously announced 7-year plan to make wireless omnipresent. In addition to the expansion of public networks, or "hotspots", WEP will involve recruiting partners, such as PC makers, to make sure they build wireless into their products. Ultimately, the effort will result in partnerships to promote the hotspots. Meanwhile, at least two manufacturers, Dell and IBM, will buck the low-price trend and offer the faster 1.8GHz Pentium 4-M chip in all new systems. Dell's will be a new Pentium 4-M mobile workstation, its Precision M50, and IBM will launch a new flagship ThinkPad T30 model. The IBM machine will weigh 4.9 pounds and include a 14-inch screen as well as wireless and data security features. It will start at $2,499.
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