Intel executives have annoyed the pro-Apple press in the US by claiming that keyboardless netbooks made by a certain fruity cargo cult is not killing off PCs.

For ages now the press has been claiming that people are buying tablets, fairly specifically Apple Tablets, instead of a PC or notebook. However an annual investor relations event in San Francisco, saw Intel execs defending the PC against the claims that "tablets" were doing it in.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini said it was time to re-invent the PC and change the design of notebook chips. Notebooks need to have power that works in the 10 to 15 watt range and ULV processors have to be the new normal. When Otellini was talking about "smart devices” he did not meantion tablets at all saying that PC and phone growth dominates tablet growth to such a degree it was not worth a mention.

Laptop Internet traffic was outgrowing smartphone and tablet traffic by three times which Otellini thought meant that laptops were growing much faster than smartphones and tablets. Intel's answer to things tabletish is to say that a tablet doesn't so much replace the laptop it works with it.

A tablet should be seen as a second or third or fourth device, and not a replacement for the PC. Basically it is a toy for the very rich. Intel is also pointing out that even if tablets were to cannibalise up to a third of PC growth, it won't knock more than a few percentage points off the PC market's compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The PC market is so much bigger and growing so fast that tablets really will not upset the apple cart, so to speak.