Things aren’t looking good for ION today as Intel has confirmed that they do charge more for an Atom processor by itself as apposed to one with Intel’s chipset. Laptopmag recently had a conference call with Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini where he shed some light on the issues regarding Atom prices. Otellini was asked whether or not Intel was charging more for an Atom CPU rather than a CPU with a chipset, and he responded, “We have historically offered better pricing to people who buy more product.” Previously Intel was rumored to be charging more for just the CPU, but it has now been confirmed.

This is bad news for ION as it makes hardware manufacturers more reluctant to adopt ION due to the higher cost. This is magnified by the fact that one of ION’s key selling points is low price. Many OEMs have said that it would be possible to buy the CPU/chipset combo at a reduced cost for use with an ION system, but it would not be cost effective.

The story gets more interesting as Intel is facing a record 1 billion USD antitrust fine from the EU. Certainly Intel’s pricing decisions cannot help its publicity with this matter.

Related posts:

1. Intel’s Pineview Will Be Compatible With ION
2. Intel and Broadcom Team to Bring HD to PineTrail
3. Asus to Release ION Based EeeBox in June
4. Intel Details 945 Successor Pine Trail, Updated Moblin
5. ASUS EeeTop Gets IONized

1. Ray Says:
   May 16th, 2009 at 6:07 pm

   Does it matter that Atom/Ion will be expensive? Ion is too good to ignore comparing to intels graphics.

2. Neil Says:
   May 18th, 2009 at 10:02 am

   I’m hoping that is what manufacturers are thinking. I would certainly be willing to pay a good deal more for an ION netbook than a normal Intel GMA netbook.

3. MasterChief Says:
   May 21st, 2009 at 1:32 pm

   This kind of practice will stifle innovation and result in reduced choice for consumers, which is bad for everyone.
   Neil – I’d like to get in contact with you to be able to provide news and information from NVIDIA. Can you drop me a note? My addy is kebrown@nvidia.com

   Thanks!

4. admin Says:
   May 21st, 2009 at 2:00 pm

   I really hope some other chip maker comes out with something to compete with the Atom. Then, Intel will have no choice but to offer the Atom at a competitive price.

   Please continue discussion on the forum: link