Intel chief: Industry battles for consumers

Pauline Bell

Monday, Nov. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The computer industry is in a war for consumers' time and attention, the keynote speaker at the kickoff of Comdex Fall '96 said today.

Andrew Grove, president and chief executive officer of Intel Corp., told about 7,000 Comdex attendees who packed the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts that the computer industry wants consumers' eyeballs.

"We have an economic mandate to grow the number of (personal computer) users," Grove said, adding that television continues to be the industry's primary competition.

There are only about one-third as many PCs as TVs in use worldwide. While new PCs outshipped new TVs on a worldwide basis, the computer industry still has a long way to go before it wins the war for consumers' attention, Grove said.

Users' experience on the PC must not only meet the expectation levels set by TV viewing, it must exceed them, Grove said.

He said he is convinced the industry can meet the challenge and that the PC can meet consumers' demand for real-world interactive, three-dimensional and lifelike experiences.

In just four years, PC images went from "postage-stamp" video to broadcast quality, Grove said, and the platform will continue to evolve from the connected PC of the mid-1990s to the visual computing platform in the late '90s. The focus will be on improving the PC experience at the same relentless pace the PC industry has pushed all other boundaries of new technology, he said.

Grove predicted that by the end of the decade, the definition of a personal computer will include interactive lifelike experiences as part of the standard platform.

Intel, the top producer of microprocessors and chips in the United States, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the development of the microprocessor by four company engineers.

"Together, they packed 2,300 transistors on a single piece of silicon and made technological history. It was the world's first microprocessor, the 4004," Grove said.

Grove's hourlong speech, "A Revolution in Process," kicked off the gigantic Comdex show, expected to draw more than 210,000 delegates to Las Vegas this week.

Comdex, the largest trade show in the world, opened at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas Hilton and Sands Expo Center this morning and will continue through Friday.

The 18th annual show, filling 2.8 million square feet, will be home to 2,100 exhibitors from across the nation and 43 other countries.

In addition to clogging streets in the resort corridor, Comdex conventioneers are expected to tie up cellular airwaves. Local officials said there may be call delays because of thousands of Comdex participants using wireless phones.

Traffic engineers recommend that residents keep away from Paradise Road, Swenson Avenue, Desert Inn Road, Las Vegas Boulevard South and other streets in the vicinity of the convention areas to avoid the inevitable gridlock accompanying the flood of pedestrians. Comdex traffic is usually worst between 5 and 7 p.m.

The gathering that began with just 157 exhibitors and a draw of 4,000 people in 1979 today is hugely popular in the $265 billion computer industry. Yet hardly a techie knows that Comdex is actually an abbreviation for Computer Distribution Exposition.