Based on x*6 based SoC design, this could potentially leverage the entire x86 based development codebase into the Maker movement which has been dominated by custom hardware and software configurations built from scratch. Support for open interfaces and integration with other hardware platforms e.g Arduino will mean that it can make it easy to integrate from x86 platform to Arduino without jumping through many hoops and complex integration designs.
I think just going by specifications itself it comes out way ahead of Raspberry Pi, and due to small size it will be a big advantage in IoT or wearables projects. The pricing is competitive with Raspberry Pi too. Enough to warrant a serious evaluation.
More details after the jump.
Key Features
The Intel Edison module uses a 22-nm Intel® Atom™ SoC, formerly Silvermont that includes a dual core, dual threaded CPU at 500 MHz and a 32-bit Intel® Quark™ processor MCU at 100 MHz. It supports 40 GPIOs and includes: 1 GB LPDDR3, 4 GB EMMC, and dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth® Low Energy on a module the size of a postage stamp. The Intel Edison module will initially support development with Arduino* and C/C++, followed by Node.JS, Python, RTOS, and Visual Programming support in the near future. The Intel Edison module includes a device-to-device and device-to-cloud connectivity framework to enable cross-device communication and a cloud-based, multi-tenant, time-series analytics service.
via Intel® Edison Module.