Intel has been trying to cut itself a slice of the mobile market for years, and it seems the company is finally making some headway. During a conference yesterday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini revealed that the company's Atom platform will ship in over 35 tablets starting early next year. The chipmaker has partnered with more than a dozen manufacturers who will launch slates running Windows, Android as well as Intel's own MeeGo operating system.

Toshiba, Dell, and Fujitsu are among the big names readying Windows-based devices, while Lenovo and Asus are preparing both Windows and Android slates. AT&T and Cisco are also developing Android tablets, while Acer and others plan to ship MeeGo products.


With some 35 design wins under its belt, the New York Times reports that Intel has quietly formed a new business unit simply called the "netbook and tablet group," which will be led by the current head of Intel's embedded and communications group, Douglas L. Davis.

In addition to sharing Intel's early success in the tablet segment, Otellini also announced that the company's smartphone-class Atom processor, codenamed Medfield, has been delayed. The chip is in customer sampling and should appear in devices sometime mid-2011.