Intel: The PC Ain't Dead Yet

LAS VEGAS -- If you think the PC era is over, Craig Barrett wants you to think again.

In his action-packed keynote address here at the Consumer Electronics Show Friday evening, Intel's president and chief executive officer insisted that the PC is still alive and well. Barrett even called on some star-studded help to usher in what he called the "extended PC era."

Barrett used the speech to highlight an army of digital devices. Shown on stage were Intel's new digital Pocket Concert Audio Player, and prototypes of a mobile phone-based personal digital assistant and a wireless Web tablet.

While the products would appear far from the chip giant's usual forte, Barrett insisted that they serve only to compliment the PC and make it more useful to end-users.

At the Center

"If you look at the center of the digital universe, the core is really the PC," he said. "What we are seeing today is more and more devices being attached to the PC and extending its influence. The key to all of these devices is to have a very powerful central processing unit."

The products on display here this week might seem to contradict Barrett's faith in the longevity of the PC. The showroom floor is lined with a myriad of Web-enabled devices that pack increasingly large amounts of memory and processing power in small form factors.

Barrett, however, believes that the added processing power offered by Intel's recently launched Pentium 4 chip will give users reason to embrace the PC as a means of complimenting these varying devices.

For instance, Barrett showed what could happen when a digital camera combines with peer-to-peer networking and a Pentium 4 computer. A user could take a digital video of a wedding in Hawaii, load it on his or her PC, and then send it instantly to friends.

"The Pentium 4 increases the number of people who can view the video at the same time and how fast it runs," he said. "The PC really acts as the central nervous system for entertainment in the home."

Intel Inside

To help make his point, Barrett brought the performance art trio the Blue Man Group on stage for several music-backed interludes between the displays of Intel's technology. The Blue Man Group is featured in a number of Pentium III television advertisements and is a popular attraction for visitors here.

After splattering paint across the stage and shooting confetti into the audience, the troop pinned Barrett down and seemingly ran a small camera down his throat and into his stomach.

The CES crowd watched the camera make its way down Barrett's esophagus and into his belly, only to receive a comic surprise when the "Intel Inside" logo appeared on giant screens lining the conference room hall.

In addition to the audio player announced earlier this week and shown here Friday night, Intel makes a number of PC-complementing devices. Barrett's staff brought out digital cameras, music players, a line of high-tech children's toys, and other concept devices.

In most cases a user can store data on the device and then use a PC to transfer the information to friends and colleagues around the globe. With intensive multimedia applications also on the rise, it may indeed be premature to count the PC out just yet.

At a press conference after his keynote, Barrett said the company's goal is not to become a significant player in the consumer electronics industry.

"I think the future of the PC is very bright," he said. "Although some people write about the death of the PC, the fact is that we continue to sell more PCs each year, and we increase the value of the PC by adding devices."

The Web tablet shown during the keynote was only a prototype, he stressed, and Intel is evaluating whether or not to release the product commercially.

(James Niccolai of IDG News Service's San Francisco bureau contributed to this report.)