The semiconductor industry has two “holy grails”. The first is to make chips smaller, faster, smarter, cheaper. We’ve accomplished this in aces. We’ve done this so well that if Lamborghinis were made by semiconductor companies they’d probably be priced in dollar amounts for quantities over 1,000 units. On the practical side, consider that your pocket-sized mobile phone has more functionality than the notebook computers of the “old days”; ie, 5 years ago.
The second “holy grail” is more abstract. We constantly strive to remind people that the advanced technologies created by semiconductor designers actually does relate to end products used by real consumers. Yes, all those cool features on your cell phone are enabled by the chips smaller than your fingernail and lots smarter than a fifth grader which run the software that shows the pictures that you just took with the built-in camera feature and which you just emailed to your friends around the world.
For years, we’ve listed all the products that run on semiconductor circuitry: everything from space shuttles to UAVs to HD cameras and microwave ovens. Somehow, telling people about the link between electronics and equipment just hasn’t seem to penetrate the mass-market psyche. But that’s about to change.
The Hearst Electronics Group announced last week that its flagship semiconductor industry publication, Electronic Products, has teamed up with sister publication, PopularMechanics, to provide nine channels of content for site visitors. Now, when you go to ElectronicProducts.com, you’ll see content from PopularMechanics.com. The URL is <http://elecp-media.com/portal/wts/cgmcfMci-xaqDT66mT2Fecj7BtA7a>.The newly combined sites will offer the design-to-development-to-delivery view of technology. Other semi industry publications do this effectively for semiconductor and technical audiences, but Popular Mechanics draws on its longtime reputation of showing how things work at a level that the mass market can understand and relate to – and get excited about.
This is an innovative relationship that can draw consumers into our world of technology and bring technologists out into the world of real market possibilities – along with some sci-fi vision stuff, of course.
The semiconductor industry is not ready for prime-time mass media yet, but this news venture brings us one step closer.
Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR.
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