Today in Tech: Intel's mobile devices shift; Amazon's fulfillment network & more

Intel's mobile devices shift

Two months ago, after Qualcomm edged past Intel in marketcap, almost everyone who wrote about it pointed to one thing: mobile. Intel has been doing just great in PCs. Its brand value, thanks, for most part, to the brilliantly thought out Intel Inside campaign, is far ahead of Qualcomm. By revenues, Intel is a bigger company. But, consumers everywhere are gravitating towards mobile, and that's where Qualcomm is doing well.

Now, Intel is responding with more technologies for mobile. Reporting from the the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Bloomberg says the company "unveiled chips and technology designed to help it benefit from the shift to smartphones and tablets, away from personal computers."

Clearly, mobile is the single word that moves the investors these days. Ask Facebook.

Amazon's fulfillment network

It's possible that you would have seen some of these mind-blowing photographs that capture the scale and complexity of Amazon's back-end operations. They serve to remind us that the front-end, which is what we relate to as consumers, is not as critical as the back-end.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOicZ_AgsSA[/youtube]

A recent report by a Scott Devitt of Morgan Stanley highlighted this aspect of the e-commerce firm. "Amazon.com’s fulfillment network is an under appreciated, strategic asset," Devitt wrote. The report boosted market sentiment around Amazon, pushing its share price up,  says WSJ. "The firm (Morgan Stanley) cited Amazon’s growing network used to fulfill orders on the retail site, and raised estimates for 2016 sales to $166 billion from $145 billion."

The most important part of IT...

McKinsey Quarterly has an interview with Bryan Neider, COO of EA Labels. Here's a point that those in technology very often forget: Ultimately, we’re in the people business. In technology companies, it’s easy to get enamored with the technology and lose sight of the fact that it’s people who ultimately design and use it. People are the creative force behind new games or services for us, just as they are for new technologies that other companies develop in other sectors.

Also of interest

• Amex stops giving fresh work to Indian IT firms : Mint
• Apple Says Application Downloads Have Exceeded 40 Billion: Bloomberg
• Athenahealth Acquires Maker Of Popular Mobile Health Apps For Doctors, Epocrates, For $293M: Techcrunch