Intel drops Centrino Atom branding

In less than five months since the official announcement of the Centrino Atom platform, Intel has decided to drop the brand opting instead to use just the Atom moniker across this part of its product line.

Centrino Atom was the brand name given to a chip package that includes an Atom processor and a single-chip chipset. This package is designed for small, handheld computers that Intel calls mobile internet devices (or MIDs), but the chip maker has been rather slow to take off in this particular segment of the mobile market.

The name was confusing to customers, who commonly associate the Centrino brand with laptops and Atom with the increasingly popular “netbooks” – which use a different version of the Atom processor and a traditional two-chip chipset. Hardware makers have been notified of the change, and MIDs will now be branded simply as Atom.

The decision was made to simplify understanding of its product ranges at a time that Intel is preparing to expand its Core brand with its upcoming Nehalem processor line.