Intel losing its joie de Viiv

(continued from previous page)

So as Intel was designing Viiv, Kim planned similar marketing campaigns around those two names with the same requirements as Centrino. The message was supposed to be: Viiv is the ultimate digital home PC, or vPro is the ultimate business PC.

In Viiv's case, Intel wanted PC shoppers to associate that brand with the perfect multimedia PC, with plenty of performance for media decoding, networking chips that streamed movies around the home, and smart software that makes all this as easy as setting the clock on the VCR. Later, Intel would unveil services branded to work with Viiv PCs and big-screen TVs, such as a fantasy-football application from Yahoo.

The problem is that people haven't shown wide interest in using PCs this way. And those who have are generally savvy enough to know what kind of performance and software they need without having to match little colored stickers on PCs to software applications and services.

The Viiv name is odd, of course. But success of Nintendo's Wii has shown everyone that it's very possible to attach a weird name to a great product or experience.

PC buyers just don't understand what makes a Viiv PC a Viiv PC, Baker said. Whereas Centrino stuck in buyers' minds as wireless networking, Viiv never offered PC users anything they really wanted or that they couldn't get elsewhere.

People understand Core as a brand because it represents Intel's best available processor, Baker said.

"Every once in awhile Intel starts to think they can separate themselves from the hardware," Baker said. "These things remind them that at their core they are a processor company."

[albertsoler]

Miscarriage: The premature expulsion of a nonviiable fetus

"Intel says it isn't digging a grave for Viiv and vPro . . ."

::They're going to let it rot in the gutter.


". . . the Duo and Quad addendums to the Core 2 brand will disappear."

::Another mistake. They should show off the number of cores. I suspect the real reason is that they were worried about the six core chip: The Core 3 Hex! But look at the opportunity they missed with the twelve core chip: The Core Dodeca! Would have been a cool name!


"The Viiv name is odd, of course. But success of Nintendo's Wii has shown everyone that it's very possible to attach a weird name to a great product or experience."

::You look at the word "Wii", you know right away how to pronounce it. Besides, weird is OK for a gaming console. I attended the Intel Channel Conference when they introduced Viiv to us. When I saw "Viiv" for the first time, I kept saying to myself Veev -- I wonder what that's about. I actually had expectations that it would be something cool.

Right.

The first thing the Intel rep said was, ". . . by the way, it's pronounced vive". It was downhill from there.

So, it's pronounced vive -- as in "survive" with its head cut off.

Not much survives with its head cut off.