One of my problems with most business journalism is we tend to write about companies the way we do sports teams, and it's not that simple.

But mid-way through John Markoff's latest torching of Intel I got a Clue that the company has finally figured things out and is going to turn around.

It was one word, from incoming CEO Paul Otellini.

Platforms.

Now, this flew right by Markoff. (That's him, his official portrait as a Stanford faculty member, to the left.) He hasn't been inside Intel like I was last year.

Much to my surprise I found that many Intel divisions didn't get the idea that platforms are what Intel sells. I found this shocking. I shouldn't have, however -- Intel is a big company, not a sports team. (Sports teams are, no matter their value, small businesses.)

As you may recall I was pushing Intel to see that the way to turning around its communications chip business was to see its chip as the heart of an Always-On platform. Surround it with a robust, scalable operating system so you can build applications that run off wireless networks -- medical applications, inventory applications, automation applications.

Now, Markoff's story does not show Otellini fully embracing this message, about Always-On. Most of it is about sideshows like its failure in digital television and Microsoft's move to IBM chips for its XBox. But Markoff makes clear that Otellini does understand platforms, that he understands wireless, and that he understands where Clearwire is going with a solution that brings broadband wireless everywhere.

Now, if he can put that together with a platform message, I think he'll be fine.

Feel free to e-mail this to him.