In praise of the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad tablet for its superior execution over any other tablet offering on the market, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) CEO Paul Otellini observed that tablets will impact PC sales. Otellini was speaking during the investor call following the announcement of its quarterly earnings. On the topic of whether tablets will impact PC sales, he said, "Sure. At the margin, they probably will. Consumers will have a limited amount of discretionary income and some will choose to purchase a tablet instead of upgrading at existing PC or purchasing a netbook in any given period."

Intel is definitely not sitting still however, and is positioning its Oak Trail Atom platform to lead the way into the tablet space. He revealed that Intel is retooling the Atom CPU with integrated 3G and 4G baseband capabilities that it acquired when it purchased Infineon's wireless unit, recently.

Otellini talked about how Intel came out with the Atom chip when netbooks first entered the market, noting that the PC and netbook market segments have both "grown substantially" over the last three years. "And we believe that will happen again with tablets," he said.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News
- check out this article at Toms Hardware

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