Intel Outlines Ultrabook Strategy (INTC, AAPL, MSFT)

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) introduced its Ultrabook design at last year’s Computex show in May and has made a lot of noise about the competitor to the MacBook Air laptop made by Apple Inc. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) today, the world’s largest chip maker, outlined its strategy for the new machines.

There are 75 designs in the pipeline for 2012, and Intel’s newest Core chips will be incorporated into the Ultrabooks throughout the year, along with the Windows 8 operating system from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). The biggest news, though, is that Intel will spend big to promote the Ultrabook.

The company has already launched a $300 million Ultrabook Fund to speed vendor development of Ultrabook designs and there’s no reason to expect the spending to stop there. Intel reportedly spent some $3 billion in payments to push its “Intel Inside” labelling and kicked off its Centrino marketing program with a similar $300 million investment.