TECHnalysis Research Blog Extra

December 9, 2016
Microsoft and Intel Partner to Drive AR and VR Adoption

By Bob O'Donnell

Though most of the news from this week’s WinHEC conference in China focused on the Microsoft and Qualcomm partnership to bring a full Window 10 experience to ARM CPU-based devices (again), there was an equally important set of announcements from apparent “frenemies” Microsoft and Intel. Specifically, the companies discussed Project Evo, an effort to evolve the PC in multiple areas.

The effort actually involves several different pieces, some of which are further along (or more important) than others. First, there’s a continued effort to improve the security of PCs, through a combination of hardware based secure boot technologies as well as some Intel-created software technology that enables password management in Windows-based browsers via a plug-in. While these are interesting, they’re frankly best seen as part of a continuing saga regarding PC security.

A second development is integrating eSIM technology into PCs so that PC owners can more quickly (and theoretically, more cheaply) sign up for LTE data services on their PC. This concept has been tried by several PC vendors before with little success, but today’s telecom environment is different and its possible it will gain more traction this time around. In this particular case, however, the potential tie-in to a Qualcomm 835 CPU with an integrated 4G modem could make it more interesting for those devices than for Intel CPU-based devices.

The reason is that Intel-based PCs have to absorb the cost of a 4G modem and, even though Intel now makes modems, the additional part will likely add a $75-$100 cost to the price of the PC, which could be hard for consumers to accept.

The biggest news of Project Evo, ironically, is about something that still doesn’t have (yet really needs) a name. Specifically, the companies have created agreed upon specs for both mainstream and premium performance-level AR and VR-capable PCs. The specs themselves are actually somewhat backward looking in that they incorporate PCs that have been shipping for over a year, but at least they set a baseline that consumers, AR/VR headset makers, and AR/VR content and application developers can work around. The problem is, without a name and a logo to specifically identify them, these specs will be of somewhat limited value. Hopefully that obvious oversight will be fixed soon because it could help make 2017 a really big year for AR and VR on PCs.

Here's a link to the column: https://techpinions.com/unpacking-this-weeks-news-december-9th-2016/48223

Bob O’Donnell is the president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a market research firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech.