Intel, the technology giant, is aiming to rapidly enhance its presence in India, where the company believes tablet and smartphone sales will rise dramatically in the next few years.
The firm's Atom microprocessors are set to feature in a wide range of mobile handsets and slates in 2012, as a result of tie-ups with major partners like Google and Microsoft.
"By next year, Intel Atom-powered smartphones - supporting Android and Windows - would hit the Asian markets," R Ravichandran, director, sales and marketing group, Intel South Asia, told the Business Standard.
"The Indian market, too, would be ready to take off and we would be a part of it by then."
CyberMedia Research, the insights provider, has estimated that 12m smartphones could be sold in India this year, when around 85,000 tablets are also due to be snapped up.
Intel has already formed alliances with Acer and Lenovo to introduce the Ultrabook, a lightweight laptop, in India. Going forward, its Haswell processor should allow it to "put a mainstream PC into a tablet form factor," Ravichandran said.
Elsewhere, Intel has allied with MasterCard, the financial services specialist, to offer safe ecommerce payment tools on the Ultrabook.
"We intend to enable users of Ultrabook devices to enjoy a secure e-commerce ecosystem on PCs. MasterCard would combine the company's PayPass payment system with Intel's Identity Protection Technology," said Ravichandran.
More broadly, Intel expects the evolving generation of appliances will prove an additive to the tech category.
"With notebook shipments continuing to rise in India and demand for new gadgets soaring, it's obvious PCs would continue to co-exist alongside tablets and other mobile computing devices, rather than fade away," Ravichandran said.
Intel's figures suggest that just six years ago the average Indian customer buying a PC needed the equivalent of 440 weeks wages, a total standing at 31 weeks in 2010, and potentially 10 weeks in 2014.
Stacy Smith, Intel's chief financial officer, said that by this date: "Two out of every three PCs would be sold in emerging markets, and nearly two of every three PCs would be sold into the consumer segment."
