The Annual Intel Developer Forum that used to be the chipmaker’s flagship event for showcasing its technological developments and products stands canceled from now onwards. The company later revealed the above has much to do with the way the entire PC landscape has changed the world over.
With interest in PCs as we have known of them so far slowing down, Intel has been forced to look for other emerging segments to continue remaining relevant. Those include autonomous cars, data centers, Internet of Things, drones, and so on. So while Intel has been left to search for other areas to fuel its growth, interest in its IDF events too have been on the wane.
All of these factors led Intel to pull the plug on an event that has seen a continuous run for two decades now. Instead, the chipmaker stated they would be focusing more on smaller events and workshops to showcase its developments.
Intel also revealed they would look to interact directly with the customers and business partners during trade shows such as the CES, Computex or the Mobile World Congress. The company already maintains a sizeable presence in each of these events along with many more around the world.
The IDF event first started in 1997 and had soon grown in both size and scope in the subsequent years. That again was the period when the PC segment was booming. Unfortunately, things changed drastically once Apple launched the iPad back in 2010.
That one single development turned out to be a devastating blow for the PC market, and the aftershock continues to be felt even though the tablet market itself has off late been shrinking. However, while analysts predicting the PC segment too will be back on the growth trajectory after years of being on the downslide; Intel has since hit upon other segments to maintain its momentum.
The chipmaker has already invested heavily in the autonomous car segment and also has a few partnerships going with both automakers and technology firms engaged in developing self-driving car technology. With the driving aspect set to be replaced by computers, here again extremely powerful processors are called for to ensure all the processing is carried out flawlessly and in real time.
Meanwhile, the 2017 edition of IDF was planned during Aug. 15 to 17 in San Francisco though as things stand right now, we have already seen the last of it.
