Intel's Flash-Memory Chip Falls Flat

In fact, some analysts believe that Intel's goal in Turbo Memory isn't so much to make money from sales of flash memory chips (which it currently produces through a joint-venture with Micron(MU)), but to improve the overall PC experience and the ongoing prospects of its core business of selling microprocessors.

Given that Turbo Memory attempts to solve such universal and age-old laptop gripes as performance and battery life, Intel seems likely to keep at it.

If Intel "swings at this first pitch and misses, then they have opportunities next year as well," says IDC's Richard Shim. "These are common problems that affect everybody, so the [PC makers] are going to want [Intel] to take another swing."

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