Intel's Edison development platform for wearables and Internet of Things now shipping
IDF 2014: Intel Edison Development Platform Now Shipping — As part of today's IDF 2014 keynote, Intel has announced that their Edison development platform is now shipping.
Context & Ripple Effects
Edison was unveiled at CES in January 2014 as a 22nm dual-core Linux PC the size of an SD card with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth — a spec-sheet promise until today's IDF 2014 keynote turned it into a shipping development platform. It also closes a loop with Intel's much older ambition to put the Internet in your pocket, dating back to 2007.
The announcement travelled unusually wide for a dev-kit shipping notice — PC World, eWeek, PC Magazine, TechRadar, Trusted Reviews and even the New York Times all picked it up on the day — reflecting how much weight analysts are putting on Intel's push beyond PCs, which this summer has included the $650M acquisition of Avago's networking business and the MICA luxury smart bracelet aimed at high-end women's accessories.
First-order effects
- Wearable and IoT developers can finally buy Edison rather than waitlist it, giving startups a ready-made dual-core Linux module with wireless instead of designing custom boards around raw silicon.
- Intel gains a shippable product it can point to at IDF as proof its beyond-the-PC strategy produces hardware, complementing the MICA bracelet and Haswell-E launches of recent weeks.
Second-order effects
- Module-level competition shifts to Intel's rivals in embedded and mobile silicon, who must decide whether to answer with comparable integrated compute-and-wireless modules or cede the maker/wearables reference-design slot.
- The same ecosystem play that drove the Avago networking acquisition extends further: Edison gives Intel a beachhead in devices, where selling the module pulls along Intel software, tools and eventually connectivity silicon.
Third-order effects
- If Edison-class modules find traction, wearable and IoT product design consolidates around off-the-shelf compute modules — the way PCs consolidated around standard platforms — with differentiation moving to enclosures, sensors and services rather than board design.
The trend: Computing is migrating from boxes toward tiny standardized modules embedded in everyday objects, with Intel trying to replicate its PC-platform dominance in wearables and IoT.