Stefan Mileschin

Chipzilla is telling the world+dog that the worst is over for the personal computer industry.

Intel forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street's expectations.

Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith told Reuters that PC sales had stabilised and he expects shrinking demand from consumers in China and other developing countries to rebound, just as it recently has in the United States.

Of course the tame Apple Press claims that it is all to do with how Apple created a mobile revolution with the launch of its keyboardless netbook in 2010. There was talk of a "mobile revolution" which tied with the downturn of the worst PC sales in years.

While many believed that the fall in PCs was because of the increase in mobiles, some of us thought that the two were a parallel development. PC sales fell because of company retrenchment during an economic downturn, while consumer sales went up as punters searched for the latest shiny thing. PC sales have risen as companies are forced to upgrade their dying machines. PCs are cheaper and attempts to bring in BYOD policies for mobile gadgets proved pretty useless.

Intel now expects the market's recovery to help it grow its full-year revenue about 5 percent, slightly higher than prior expectations.

Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich told analysts on a conference call that improved demand from companies replacing old PCs would last at least through the end of 2014.

Intel increased its share buyback program by $20 billion. It wants to buy $4 billion of stock in the current quarter, thinking tht there will be more interest in "two in one" devices with detachable keyboards and screens.

Intel said in a statement it expects third-quarter revenue of $14.4 billion, plus or minus $500 million. Analysts had expected $14 billion on average.

Revenue from Intel's PC group rose 6 percent in the quarter while its data centre group, a big contributor to gross margins, had revenue jump 19 percent.

Chipzilla's profits have been made without much interesting in its mobile offerings. Intel said its mobile and communications group's revenue fell 83 percent to $51 million and had an operating loss of $1.12 billion.

http://news.techeye.net/business/doo...try-says-intel