2013 Prediction: Apple and Facebook Will Fly, Intel Will Die
While Intel's fate will likely not be as dismal as Research in Motion's (RIMM) , the writing on Intel's wall looks eerily similar to RIM's 2011-12 graffiti.
By and large, Wall Street analysts give Intel a free pass vis-a-vis its pathetic miss mobile. Sure, they lower estimates consistently, but the benefit of the doubt legacy companies often enjoy lingers.
There's this hope upon hope that Intel will turn the corner, produce some funky silicon and become the darling of smartphone and tablet makers. Is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse?
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Intel's mobile miss makes Facebook's (FB) admission of the same appear insignificant.
Facebook has a billion or so users. Interaction with social networks via mobile devices continues to grow exponentially. The media overhyped Facebook's predicament; it's actually in a pretty solid situation. It's ramping up its mobile efforts alongside what's set to be one of the biggest advertising explosions in the history of advertising.
Can you believe Barron's called FB a $15 stock in late September? I'm glad I bought on that ill-advised dip.
By contrast, Intel has to beat down a door that's shut almost as tightly as the one it locked on the PC market.
Chalkboard it: Intel hitched its wagon to a dying space; Facebook stands at the forefront of a growing one. You do the cerebral gymnastics.
Even worse for Intel, something I mentioned in passing in the above-cited article -- If Intel can't become a mobile player and the company loses any or all of its Macbook business, it will be stuck latched onto Windows 8 and the PC market -- became Breaking News Monday afternoon.
Rumor has it that Apple (AAPL) , as reported by Bloomberg, might go its own way, eventually hyping smartphone and tablet chips to power Macbooks.
Look the bleep out.
Read that writing on the wall.