Intel unveiled its button-sized Curie module at CES this past January and now nine months later, the chipmaker has revealed what will be the first product to use it.
At the Maker Faire Rome, Intel announced a brand new Arduino board dubbed Arduino 101. As The Verge highlights, it's not the radical wearable or extreme sports companion that some expected but it could still prove to be an incredibly important piece of technology.
For those not familiar, Curie is a tiny 32-bit Quark-powered SoC primarily designed to convert nearly any object into a smart wearable device. It features 384kB of flash memory, 80kB of SRAM, a six-axis combo sensor with accelerometer and gyroscope and a Bluetooth LE radio for wireless connectivity.
Intel skipped over a huge opportunity several years ago to become the exclusive chip provider of the iPhone and is currently feeling the squeeze of a slowing PC industry. The company also sold off its Internet TV business to Verizon last year, an area that's ripe for growth in the coming years.
Curie highlights Intel's belief that wearables will be the next big thing in technology and it certainly doesn't want to miss out yet again. It's even working on a reality show called America's Greatest Makers to promote its new chip.
The Arduino 101 (known as Genuino 101 outside of the US) will be available in the first quarter of 2016 priced at $30.