If you've been watching the netbook market develop and perhaps even happen to own one yourself, you're likely interested in the idea of ramping up performance on them without sacrificing much of its "netbook" qualities.
One method that about every desktop and laptop out there has now gone through is increasing performance density by using dual-core processors. The dual-core Atom was Intel's answer to the question of how to get very low-power dual-core computing, but apparently the company does not want to see this processor end up in netbooks.
According to Fudzilla, Shmuel (Mooly) Eden, Vice President of Intel's Mobile Platforms Group stated that the dual-core Atom (model 330) was not designed with netbooks in mind, and will not offer the power reduction benefits necessary for them. Furthermore, he believes the processor is not suitable for such mobile devices because they require active cooling.
Dual-core Atoms have been on Intel's agenda for a while, with rumors and hints of the processor first surfacing early last year and a silent launch last quarter. If not netbooks, where will Intel aim dual-core Atoms in the longer run?