Intel subsidizing ultrabooks: officially not happening

It all started as a rumour that originated from Taiwan and that spread quickly, which we reported as well, but it seems that the subsidizing of the upcoming ultrabooks from Intel is not going to happen.

While Intel set aside $300 million market development fund to make the ultrabooks more popular, which is quite a nice amount of money, these funds are in no way subsidies and won’t translate to the direct price.

A high ranking sources at Intel, who prefers to remain unnamed, said that the company won’t offer anything like a $100 subsidy, not in December and not in the early months of 2012.

Although prices are expected to drop down ‘by themselves’ due to a couple of factors. The first one being that Intel’s long-term goal, set by CEO Paul Otellini, is to hit a $699 entry level price sometime next year, only downside being that it won’t happen as soon as we hoped.

Another factor is the arrival of the Ivy Bridge ultrabooks, after which vendors will start to clear their inventories of the Sandy Bridge products, but this will most probably happen during the second half of 2012.

As reported, CES is expected to see the announcement of quite a high number of ultrabooks, and with Ivy Bridge arriving around April, more ultrabook will most likely see the light after that. Unfortunately, the price will remain as planned and won’t see any reductions.

So for those already planning on buying a brand new ultrabooks thanks to the subsidies, you’ll either have to wait longer or spend a little more.

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