While Intel's (News - Alert) plans to make some price cuts that  re still somewhat sketchy, there is one new decision that did land, and it's set to really shake up the industry as Intel puts out a big endorsement of touch technology at the Society for Information Display (SID) show earlier this week.

Perhaps more telling is that along with Intel's endorsement came word that the touchscreen notebook market was about to see some pretty big increases in shipments for 2013.

The reports cite both the new initiatives from Intel, as well as a substantial price drop in touchscreen panels, as prices drop from between $60 and $70 in 2012 to $35 per in 2013. Both of these factors are looking to come together to not only give 2013 a big shot in the arm in terms of devices shipped with touchscreens, but also in terms of total shipments expected to be made in 2016. While only 4.6 million such notebooks were shipped in 2012, that number is expected to reach fully 78 million in 2016, which is said to account for nearly one in every four devices - 24.6 percent - shipped.

As for Intel, it was clear that the company was behind touchscreens in a big way, as evidenced by remarks delivered by Intel's vice president and general manager for global ecosystem development, Zane Ball. Ball took the stage to address a large audience at the IHS (News - Alert) / SID 2013 Business Conference, and made some very clear points about Intel and touchscreens:

"Touch displays are reinventing the PC market and there is a substantial growth opportunity in this area. At Intel, we have adopted a strategy that touch should be everywhere. We believe that as touch moves into the PC space, it will be a transformative product and will unlock new demand."

Ball then elaborated on his remarks, saying that mobile PC designs featuring Intel's Haswell processor were already in progress, and Intel was also taking steps, (though what those steps were was unclear), to keep a steady supply of inexpensive touchscreens on hand.

But there were, reportedly, still some people of the PC supply chain who were doubting the idea of touchscreen technology in notebooks, which led to some further remarks from Ball. Ball made it quite clear that there was "little doubt there's demand for touch," and that Intel's plans for touch go well beyond notebooks. Reports indicated that Intel had plans for touch to come in not only to full all-in-one desktop PCs, but also into smaller, portable devices with battery power.

That's a fairly ringing endorsement for the concept of touch as we know it, and based on what's known so far it's a safe bet that many laptops will be boasting that touch technology in rapid fashion. This might well serve to get a little extra boost going for Windows 8.

One thing, however, is clear: a lot more people are about to get more hands-on with hardware in the fairly near-term future.