• BBC News, Monday, July 28, 2008 12 PM

New numbers from chip maker Intel claim that the mobile phone market is set to explode in the next four years, as net-enabled devices grow to 1.2 billion by 2012. Intel also projected that 100 million households would be watching Internet-based television by 2011.

The Intel study was released in conjunction with the launch of a series of chips designed for portable Web-enabled devices. "The fact that people want to be on the internet all the time means they will be looking for the ability they have today say at their desk and to have that anytime and anywhere," said Gadi Singer, head of Intel's mobility group. "That creates the demand for new devices and more sophisticated devices with the computing power and connectivity presenting a major opportunity."

Singer said he expects to see Intel's new chips installed in car entertainment systems, smartphones, notebooks and industrial robots. Intel lags far behind its competitors in the mobile sector, where firms like Arm dominate the market for mobile chips. "The mobile market is the next cash cow and the demand is high for mobile devices with higher speed chips and higher processing chips," Gartner analyst Tole Hart said. "We will have to see how Intel's product performs with say Qualcomm and Texas Instruments."

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