Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[kpf]

are able to profit from the (marketing) value of the Centrino platform.
Yes. However to do so it is not sufficient to buy just a CPU. You gotta pay for a package to may call it so and make your customers pay for it.

higher quality components
This is also true. Intel requires to use certain components to sell procuct under Centrino-bran. (they don't say brandnames of components but specs only specific components meet)

This worked extremely well for couple of years and i believe it still does in corporate segment, but recent market data suggest at least folks in the U.S. buying from retail (i.e. consumers) are not willing to pay a premium for Centrino. ASP of Intel- and AMD-based notebooks only differ by some 25 Dollars there.

K.