Otellini speaks his brains

28 Apr 2008 | 10:29 BST

By Andrew Thomas

CHIPZILLA BOSS Paul Otellini has been sharing his wit and wisdom with the Wall Street Journal. Apart from announcing that Intel wants to shift billions of chips into computers, phones and other shiny things, the 57-year old listed his top five tips for business success.

Otellini is keen to build Intel's share of the cellphone market:

"At the current rate there will be enough cellphones sold that every person on Earth will have one inside of 10 years," he told the WSJ. "Now the Italians have three and some people have none, so it's an average. But the idea that you have one per person of anything in this world has never happened. There's not even one television per person. The handset could be the first thing."

He also outlined the move away from building the biggest, faster processors to low-cost, relatively low power offerings such as the Atom. When asked if Intel was likely to get its silicon into a future Iphone, he replied enigmatically: "All the major handset manufacturers have a family of products, and they're all talking to us."

Otellini also said that some divisions of Intel had considered themselves to be doing a good job until they were confronted with comparisons to competitors:

"Parts of the organisation that had considered themselves best of class, [but] when they're confronted with the reality of the data it's, "Oh, my God."

He noted in closing that his daughter is on her third notebook 'because she keeps dropping the damn things, which is good for Apple.'

Those Otellini tips in full:

• Change before you have to
• Measure your performance against others
• Trim unnecessary layers of management
• Keep a couple of senior managers on to mentor youngsters
• Be wary of tips

Tip #4 is obviously Otellini's less than subtle ploy to ensure he's kept on in an advisory capacity when he has to retire in a couple of years' time. µ

L'Inq
WSJ (sub required)

© 2007 Incisive Media Investments Ltd. 2007