Jim Baldwin was Intel Media’s VP of Engineering until his departure in April.

An Intel Media spokesperson confirmed this when contacted by GigaOM, saying that “Baldwin left Intel Media to pursue opportunities outside the company.” Baldwin’s Linkedin profile put the change a bit more bluntly, listing “retired” as his current job. Intel Media’s spokesperson didn’t have any further comment on the circumstances of his departure, and Baldwin didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Baldwin came to Intel from Microsoft, where he served as CTO for the Interactive Entertainment Business unit as well as Engineering Director for Microsoft’s Mediaroom business. A recent job offer for Intel Media included this tidbit about Baldwin’s bio:

“Jim joined Microsoft in 1997 as a part of the WebTV acquisition, Jim has been a key architect of digital video technology for various products including the WebTV Plus, Echostar Dishplayer, DirecTV UltimateTV and Microsoft TV. ”

No matter the circumstances, losing a key exec during the last stretch of the race can’t be good news for Intel Media. The project is currently running a private test in three markets, and Intel Media boss Erik Huggers said in February that the service will be available to consumers before the end of the year. Intel’s spokesperson had this to say about the impact of the departure: “He will be missed, but we have a very strong engineering organization in place with a deep leadership bench.”

Intel Media wants to offer consumers a TV subscription service over the internet, complete with a catch-up feature that will allow viewers to go back and view anything that has aired on any channel within a given time frame. Consumers will be able to access the service through an Intel-made set-top box as well as through tablets and other devices.

Huggers said in February that the service will be marketed under a separate brand that hasn’t been revealed yet. However, I recently found some clues suggesting that the new branding will be tied to Intel’s legacy brand with the tagline “Intel inside & out.”

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And while looking into these filings, I also stumbled across a seemingly related filing made a few months ago in secrecy that hints at possible branding strategies, and further highlights the ambitious scope of Intel’s TV plans.

Intel goes all out for its media service

Intel filed for three trademarks for Intel inside & out at the end of March in an attempt to secure the rights for both the phrase as well as two logo renditions. The applications cover a broad and somewhat random description of devices, including everything from set-top boxes to personal digital assistants, video cameras and media players. However, the description of associated services is a little more telling, and includes “providing text, data, image, audio, video, gaming and multimedia content for a fee or pre-paid subscription.” Also covered are:

“On demand transmission and services of data, audio, video, gaming and multimedia content; broadcasting services; teleconferencing; electronic transmission and streaming of movies, music, video, gaming and multimedia content;”

And it gets even more detailed:

“Entertainment Services; providing a database featuring audio, videos, television programs, motion pictures, games, current events and entertainment news, sports, games, cultural events, social, and entertainment-related programs; electronic games services provided by means of the internet;”

All of these items seem to describe Intel’s plans for its TV service pretty well. The company has been mum on some key details, but Intel Media boss Erik Huggers said in February that he wants to launch a full-blown TV subscription service that competes with cable, offering live broadcast feeds, on-demand content and an iPlayer-like TV catch-up service.

Oh, and the company will also make its own device, which it intends to sell through retail partners as well as on its own website, which is why the trademark application also includes a mention of “online retail of consumer electronic equipment and devices.”

But wait, there’s more

The Intel inside & out trademark applications were filed by Katherine M. Basile, an attorney with Novak Druce & Quipp LLP, a Cupertino-based law firm that has been doing these kinds of applications for Intel for a number of years now. Centrino, Atom and the original Intel Inside were all registered as trademarks by Basile.

This is the home of the mysterious 12307 Company LLC. Is it a shell company, used by Intel to trademark a possible Intel TV brand?

But when I looked at her past filings, I stumbled across something curious: Back in September, she filed a trademark for Arlo, which features a description virtually identical to the one that’s part of the Intel inside and out application. Whole paragraphs seem to have been copied and pasted, including key descriptions like the one defining “broadcasting services; teleconferencing; electronic transmission and streaming of movies, music, video, gaming and multimedia content.”

However, Arlo wasn’t filed for Intel, but for an entity called 12307 Company LLC. That company was incorporated in Delaware in 2007, but it never applied for any other trademarks than Arlo. A quick check with the Delaware Department of State showed that its business address is in the famous Corporation Trust Center in Wilmington, Delaware, where it shares a mailbox with some 200,000 other companies. It’s a shell company, meant to hide the involvement of another entity.

So what does all of this mean?

Before we jump to conclusions about these trademarks, it’s worth remembering that companies don’t always act on their trademark filings. It’s possible that Intel filed for an inside & out trademark, and used 12307 Company to secure the trademark for Arlo, but won’t actually use either of them once it unveils its TV service. It’s possible, but somewhat unlikely, that Intel and 12307 Company don’t have any connection at all, and just filed virtually identical trademark applications through the same lawyer by accident. (Yeah, I don’t buy that one either.)

And of course, it is also possible that we are going to see an Arlo-branded TV service, powered by Intel inside & out, emerge later this year. An Intel Media spokesperson declined to comment on Intel inside and out as well as Arlo, instead sending me the following statement:

“We haven’t shared any info on the brand beyond confirming that we will introduce a new and unique brand when our product comes to market later this year.”

However, the bigger point here is that Intel isn’t just content with building a service that streams cable channels to your TV. Huggers told me during an interview in February that he wants to target all screens, and that this is part of a bigger plan to transform Intel. Turn the chip maker into a company that delivers and monetizes services running on those chips.

TV is only one piece of that puzzle, and your TV set is only one of many screens. Some of the other offerings mentioned in the filings, like video gaming and teleconferencing or even the notion of a multiscreen cloud media platform, are the logical next steps. Intel seems to be getting ready to embark on this journey, and in the process reinvent itself — inside and out.

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Huggers said on stage at the conference Tuesday that his company is building a set-top box that will be fueled by a service that combines live TV, video on demand and a catch-up component  similar to the BBC’s iPlayer. U.K. viewers can use the iPlayer to watch anything that aired on the BBC within the last week, and Huggers was in charge of launching the project for the broadcaster. “American audiences have not yet experienced a proper catch-up service,” he told me.

Intel Media is preparing to launch the service in the U.S. before the end of the year through a mix of retail partnerships and direct sales to consumers. A lot of details are still under wraps, including the name of the service, the exact programming available, as well as its eventual price. However, Huggers said on Tuesday that his goal was neither complete unbundling nor undercutting cable. “We are not a value play,” he said, adding: “We are a quality play.” During his on-stage appearance at the conference, he suggested that Intel is working with “the entire industry” to bring live TV content to the service, but it’s unclear how advanced these negotiations are.

There was some backlash Tuesday about Intel’s announcement, namely that the device would come with a camera that would be able to identify viewers and service personalized ads. In talking to me, Huggers tried to put it in perspective by comparing it to other consumer electronics products, asking: “How many millions of homes have a Kinect device?” Of course, one could argue that people might be much less accepting of the Kinect if it was being used to identify individual users and relay that information to Microsoft.

Intel Media is run as an independent unit within Intel, overseen by a separate board, and many folks within Intel didn’t even know what the unit was up to until this week. That separation also included a lot of outside hires, and even some cooperation with small, external companies, as we first reported in January. “We are not following the playbook of Intel,” acknowledged Huggers during our interview. “We are trying to do something that is rather left field for Intel.”

This story was updated at 12:19 pm to clarify Intel’s content plans.

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The offering will include a consumer electronics device, which Intel will sell through retailers as well as through its own website. “It is an Intel-powered device… with beautiful industrial design,” he said.

But the device is only part of the package. It will be paired with a TV service run by Intel that is going to launch under a new brand, which has yet to be revealed. Huggers didn’t go into too many details about the actual content that is going to be available through the service. “We are working with the entire industry,” he said, adding that he’s confident to sign all major players before launch.

Intel wants to make that content available both via live television streamed over the top — something Huggers compared to a traditional cable subscription — as well as on demand and through catch-up TV. Huggers likened the catch-up component to the BBC’s iPlayer, which he helped to launch at the broadcaster, and which makes pretty much all BBC programming available online after it airs on TV. “This is not a cherry-pick… this is literally everything,” he said.

GigaOM first reported in January many of the details mentioned by Huggers Tuesday, including some key hires from companies like Jawbone and Apple. “We have gone out of our way to bring a completely new skill set into this group,” he said.

One of the potentially more controversial features of the Intel device will be a camera that is meant to identify consumers and target them with personalized ads as well as content.

Also worth noting: Intel’s TV service won’t be offering single channel subscriptions. “I do believe that there is value in bundles, actually,” Huggers said. He suggested that there was an opportunity to make bundles smarter, possibly giving consumers more flexibility. “I don’t believe that the industry is ready for pure a la carte,” he added.

Of course, bundles could also lead to consumers paying almost as much, if not just as much as they’re currently paying for cable. “It’s not about a value play,” he said.

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Still, Intel is definitely getting close to lifting the curtain on its plans for the living room. I’ve been talking to sources familiar with the project for a few months now, and done a fair share of digging online as well. Combined with a few previous leaks, a much clearer picture about what Intel is up to in the TV space is emerging: it’s a box, it’s a service, and it’s intriguing, to say the least.

It’s top-secret… but not for much longer

Intel Media’s office building may not look like much, but sources have told me that the company is trying to recreate a startup atmosphere inside.

Intel has been building its secret new TV platform inside a nondescript office building tucked away between two parking structures in a corner of the Intel Campus in Santa Clara, California. From the outside, it looks like any other building on the chip maker’s campus.

But I’ve been told by multiple sources with knowledge of the project that the things going on in the building are anything but dusty old Intel. The project, which has been dubbed Intel Media, is run like a startup in stealth mode.

Intel Media is overseen by a separate board, which includes Intel CEO Paul Otellini as well as Intel Media’s content head Eric Free. There has even been talk of spinning off Intel Media into a separate corporate entity. Intel Media boss Erik Huggers, who previously led the BBC’s iPlayer efforts, apparently prefers to hire outsiders over Intel veterans, and most people at Intel have no clue what’s going on in the building.

That may change soon. Even without any CES announcements, it looks like Intel is getting ready to finally unveil what it’s been working on. Forbes also reported that limited beta tests of the service are going to start in March, and Huggers is scheduled to talk at AllThingsD’s media conference in February, where he presumably has to give at least some kind of sneak peek.

It’s a box… and so much more

Intel Media’s retail efforts are driven by the same guy who brought Jawbone’s Jambox to Best Buy and Walmart.

At the center of Intel’s efforts is a set-top box manufactured by Intel and possibly Intel-branded as well. The device will be sold on Intel’s website as well as through retail partners. Intel Media has hired Sean Ludick, who helped Jawbone to get its speakers and headsets into the stores of retail giants like Best Buy, Costco and Walmart. Ludick is now is in charge of doing the same for Intel’s TV box.

Of course, Intel’s box will compete with a plethora of other devices at these stores, none of which are selling particularly well. That’s where Courtnee Westendorf comes in. Westendorf worked more than a decade at Apple, where she managed global marketing for the iPhone and iPod. Now, she is head of marketing for Intel Media.

But Intel Media won’t be just about that one single box. The company’s goal is to deliver its video service to all screens, including tablets, PCs and mobile phones.

That will likely include an ambitious licensing play to secure content across all of these devices. Intel’s set-top box will offer access to third-party apps, but also TV content licensed by Intel — something that has been one of the key challenges of the project. Reuters and the Wall Street Journal detailed earlier this year how the company wanted to secure the right to stream individual TV channels over the internet, and Forbes reported this weekend that it will offer consumers the ability to subscribe to individual channels, as opposed to a big and expensive cable bundle. I’m still skeptical about that last part, but we should soon know more.

It wants to beat Apple TV… without being Apple TV

Intel Media executives believe Apple got it all wrong.

Intel has made numerous attempts to capture the living room, most recently with its CE4100 chipset, which powered first-generation Google TV devices as well as the Boxee Box. Google TV’s first devices were largely ignored by consumers, and Intel wants to get it right this time around.

But Intel doesn’t want to just build a better Google TV. It wants to dethrone Apple TV, the de facto leader in the market for video streaming devices. Apple executives have long called the current-generation Apple TV a hobby, but the company nonetheless managed to sell five million units in its fiscal FY 2012. However Intel Media executives think that Apple simply isn’t doing it right with its current-generation TV product, I was told by a source.

One example: Apple TV currently offers a combination of VOD and apps, forcing users to make active choices about their TV viewing and making them browse through catalogs of media before they’re able to watch anything. Intel Media boss Erik Huggers, in particular, dislikes this approach, and wants to replace it with a broadcast-like approach of curated channels that require a minimum of interaction. Think Pandora, not Spotify.

It’s developed in California… and London

Much of the UI design for Intel’s TV product has been driven by a group of designers that incorporated as W12 Studios this year.

Huggers is known to have strong opinions about user experience, and has gone on the record saying that the user experience of many existing TV services is “absolutely dreadful, completely awful.” He has also been vocal about the power of small teams. One of his inspirations for Intel Media has been Free, the French telco disruptor that built its own IPTV set-top box with a staff of 20 engineers. Those two reasons explain why Huggers has quasi-outsourced the UI design of the Intel TV product to a small team of star designers in London, which incorporated under the name W12 Studios earlier this year.

The team includes a number of people who worked on the BBC iPlayer, and many were previously at key agencies like IDEO, frog design, Method, Schematic and Fjord. “The people that I’ve been able to attract I know very well, because they worked in my organization,” Huggers said in 2011. “These are the guys that have designed industry award-winning services across television, telephone, tablets, PCs.”

The W12 Studios team has taken multiple trips to Santa Clara while working on the project. During that time, the design underwent a number of iterations. I’ve heard that one version looked a bit like Apple’s Cover Flow, while another incarnation has been described to me as having the look and feel of the tile design at the center of Windows 8.

It’s a big bet on Intel’s future… which is uncertain

Intel CEO Paul Otellini has been key to the company’s TV initiative. But with him leaving in May, what will the future hold for Intel Media?

One source told me that as of six months ago, Intel had already spent $100 million on these efforts. Another estimated that the total spent on these efforts could end up being an order of magnitude higher. That’s real money, even for someone like Intel — and it shows how serious the company is making this new foray into the TV space. That’s because for Intel, it’s not just about capturing the living room. It’s about redefining its own DNA to be prepared for a post-silicon future.

Otellini has long been talking about his desire to embrace services as the future of Intel. The company’s TV service could become a key blueprint for these efforts, for a future in which Intel sells goods and services directly to consumers, as opposed to just powering devices made by others. That motivation was a big reason Otellini brought Huggers on board. Here’s how Huggers recalled his job interview with Otellini:

“I don’t know anything about silicon. Zero. And I told him that. He said: ‘That’s exactly what we need. We need someone who doesn’t understand silicon. We need someone who has launched services, who has worked in a content environment, and who can help bridge that gap.”

It’s worth pointing out that this move towards services has been championed by Otellini, who is going to retire in May. The question is whether his yet-to-be-named successor will share the same vision for Intel’s future, and whether he will give Intel Media a fair chance even if consumers don’t bite right away.

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