Intel 'to sell consumer products'

The wrapping is soon to come off on Intel's portable digital audio player

Tech giant Intel is reportedly set to announce it will sell consumer products, starting with a portable digital audio player, which it hopes will offset a slowdown in growth in microchip sales to PC makers.

The player, to be called Pocket Concert, will reportedly feature up to four hours of music programming capability and is equipped with 128 megabytes of memory for storing digital audio in MP3 and Windows formats.

The device - to be unveiled on Friday at a consumer electronics show in Las Vegas - will go on sale initially at about $350 for player and an accessories kit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Earlier last month, Intel became one of several tech giants to issue a warning that profits would not meet expectations.

It said the main reason was that PC sales were slower than expected across the world.

Intel's profit warning following a string of similar forecasts from other tech companies including Motorola, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway.

The California-based company derives 80% of its sales and profits from microprocessors.

Although sales of computer chips rose last year by 31%, Intel, the industry leader, lost market share and posted the slowest growth among the top 10 makers of semi-conductors, the devices used in mobile phones and personal electronic organisers.

Shares in Intel rose slightly in early trading Tuesday, up nearly 5%.