Om points out that mammoth Intel is beaten again by fleet Broadcom: With Intel promoting itself as the wireless leader, they have relatively little in-house wireless expertise, and Broadcom's new single-chip 802.11b solution hammers home the advantages of small, fast-moving, focused firms, especially in an age of outsourced fabrication ("fabless" chipmakers).
Intel does have the thought leadership on Wi-Fi, as they've hammered their message home quite well. Ultimately, though, they're a hardware company. They need to master this area of silicon in house to produce the margins they need long-term, even if the game right now is about selling laptop systems, not just Wi-Fi chips.