It is not a secret that personal computers are very widely leveraged on the market and are not something extraordinary for most of us, like a PC used to be 10 or 15 year ago. Nowadays a lot of people are very interested in advanced consumer electronics, including MP3 players, high-end mobile phones, set-top-boxes, household appliances and so on. Since the demand growth on PCs reduces, companies involved in the IT industry try to find themselves additional markets. Consumer electronics seems to be just what they need: growing demand, increasing ASPs (average selling prices) and gross margins.

Intel, as the main driving force of the industry, announced at CES that it is working with Microsoft to develop a portable media player (PMP) hardware reference design for the new Microsoft Media2Go software platform. As a result of the Intel and Microsoft collaboration, Samsung Electronics and ViewSonic will develop Intel XScale technology-based PMPs running the Media2Go platform that will allow consumers to enjoy video and other types of media anywhere they want.

Called the portable video player in its early development, the PMP is a new type of mobile entertainment product pioneered by Intel. PMPs will be small enough to fit in a coat pocket and will allow people to take video, still pictures and music with them anywhere they go. Intel-based PMPs will feature high-quality video playback using an Intel XScale technology-based processor. The different types of media can be transferred to a PMP from a PC or a Personal Video Recorder using USB 2.0 connection.

Intel and Microsoft are working together to develop an initial hardware reference design based on Intel XScale technology and Microsoft's Media2Go software platform. Media2Go is based on Microsoft's Windows CE .NET operating system and offers consumers the ability to enjoy their videos, music and photos on-the-go.

Intel's Emerging Platforms Lab has developed a lot of key technologies for the PMP, including video software, a USB 2.0 implementation, hard-drive caching algorithms that extend battery life, and working PMP prototypes and reference designs. By combining these technologies with the high-performance and low power consumption of Intel XScale technology-based processors, Intel is creating the foundation for a new category of mobile media devices.