They're differentiating the market
They are, but this time I have to give them sone credit, as there have been "artificial" differences presented to the market by both Intel and AMD over the years, take 754 and 939, the chips were to start with almost identical - but one was "artificially" cut down, Intel has also done the same thing in the past (and currently).
However it looks like AMD have learned their lesson from the 754/939 saga, this time there is no artificial seperation at all as the CPU's/APU's are obviously aimed at different sectors, and there is nothing artificial there at all - clever AMD - keep it up.
E Series - Brazos = low-end / media / low CPU performance, good video playback.
A Series - Llano = mid-range / standard use + media / good all round performance.
FX? Series - Bulldozer = high-end / HPC - Server - Gamer - Workstation / No Graphics included but high-performance with many cores (8 for now).
This seems to be a totally natural evolution of "what the market wants" vs what the manufacturer wants to sell to the market, and it looks like there are 3-platforms but 2-sockets as Brazos is an integrated-only part.
Of course the majority of buyers will end up with the new "Socket FM1" as they will get excelent CPU + GPU performance whilst I expect that AM3+ will slowly morph into a platform with either low-end (integrated into the chipset) graphics for some users or for those who demand the most graphics performance high performance graphics card(s) - I expect it to end up being an exclusive club while FM1 slowly takes control of the mid-range.
The mid-range is of course where the vast majority of the volume is concentrated and AMD have taken a mighty and very clever gamble that has taken years to come to fruition - ATI. It was a Genius idea to merge a CPU and a GPU and make an APU - yes others got there first - but AMD have got it right.
Anyone who has ever used a machine with an Atom CPU and crappy Intel graphics will tell you that it is a media-less experience, the internet is full to the point of overflowing with media, high-def is slowly becoming the norm, more people are using computers to watch videos and TV on, and casual PC gaming (flash) is now the norm for many people who dont even consider themselves "game players". All of this means that AMD are about to give the IT world a kick, and further enable the media frenzied world that we now live in.
Computers are no longer dull beige boxes used by people to do work on, they are sleek machines of entertainment, information, play, and sometimes work. Media has changed our usage of computers a lot in just a few years, AMD saw the way the market was moving and is moving with it, I know that FM1 will be a great sucess and finally (hopefully) people will suddenly realise that the performance of the "CPU" doesnt matter that much anymore, but the "GPU" is great - "all hail the GPU". This is where AMD will hand out a beating to Intel, Intel has a pretty decent GPU attatched to their CPU right now, but AMD now have the "APU" - and this means that for any media-centric buyer that actually understands what they want AMD will be the choice and FM1 will be the platform.
Andy