LEAK: FOXCONN TO BUILD AMAZON'S 10.1 TABLET

Foxconn will build Amazon’s rumored 10.1-inch tablet, DigiTimes reported on Thursday. The Android tablet is expected to ship in 2012 according to the report, but Amazon may want to get the device out the door a bit earlier in order to to have it on store shelves in time for the holiday season. A smaller 7-inch version that was built by Quanta computer is already on its way to Amazon and, while other reports suggested it is a 9-inch tablet, that is likely the model we have heard will launch in late August or September.

Amazon will launch a “Coyote” tablet that packs a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra processor, as well as a larger “Hollywood” tablet powered by the new quad-core Kal-El chip. Since Kal-El devices aren’t shipping to consumers yet, it could be a safe bet to guess that Quanta Computer built the Coyote tablet while Foxconn has scored the order for the more powerful Hollywood device.

MICROSOFT IN ACQUISITION DEAL WITH NVIDIA

Microsoft and Nvidia have an agreement in place that spells out terms relating to a possible acquisition of the graphics and mobile processor manufacturer, regulatory documents indicate.
The deal gives Microsoft the exclusive right to match any offer for 30% or more of Nvidia's outstanding shares by a third-party, according to an SEC filing reviewed by InformationWeek.

"Under the agreement, if an individual or corporation makes an offer to purchase shares equal to or greater than 30% of the outstanding shares of our common stock, Microsoft may have first and last rights of refusal to purchase the stock," Nvidia said in the filing, dated May 27.
The pact puts Redmond in a position to effectively veto attempts by any of its rivals to snap up Nvidia, which makes key components for the red-hot tablet market, which includes forthcoming Windows 8 slates.

Nvidia produces the ARM-based Tegra chip, which is widely used by a number of major mobile device manufacturers. It's employed in Google Android-based tablets and smartphones from Samsung, Motorola, and others. Microsoft itself earlier this week demonstrated Windows 8 tablets running on the new, quad-core "Kal-El" version of Tegra.

There's also been rumblings over the past couple of years that Apple views Nvidia as a possible takeover target. Apple's A5 CPU for the iPad 2 uses ARM's system-on-a-chip design, an architecture in which Nvidia has considerable expertise as Tegra also relies on ARM.

Microsoft and Nvidia negotiated their acquisition deal as part of a broader arrangement under which Microsoft licensed Nvidia graphics chips for use in the Xbox entertainment and gaming console.

INTEL POWERED SMARTPHONES COMING NEXT YEAR

According to Reuters, Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini confirmed that smartphones powered by Intel’s Medfield mobile processor would land next year. Otellini also denied earlier rumors that Intel might include ARM technology in future chips. “There’s no advantage going in there, we’d be beholden to someone else, beholden to ARM. We’d pay royalties to them so it would lower the overall profits,” Otellini explained during Intel’s annual investor meeting in California.

Intel’s Atom processors have been used in tablets and netbooks, but the firm has been noticeably absent in the smartphone market, which has been dominated by ARM, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, and Samsung. “With Medfield we’re in the power envelope for phones … We’re working with several customers and we start to expect to see the revenue ramp toward the end of this year,” Intel’s CFO Stacy Smith said

NVIDIA CEO SMACKS ANDROID TABLET SALES AROUND

It won't have escaped your attention that just about every Honeycomb tablet shipping in the first half of this year features, or will feature, NVIDIA's Tegra 2 hardware. Unfortunately for NVIDIA, reception for the Android 3.0 slates has been a little underwhelming, and the company's Chief Eloquence Officer, Jen-Hsun Huang, has had a few words to say about it.

He sees the relative paucity of tablet-optimized Android apps as a weakness, while also expressing the belief that cheaper WiFi-only models should've been the standard shipping config rather than fully fledged 3G / 4G variants as Motorola has been pushing with the Xoom. All in all, his is a very sane and accurate analysis, but Mr. Huang loves to look to the future as much as he enjoys talking about the present, and in his opinion all these major downsides have already been "largely addressed" by "a new wave" of Android tablets. He doesn't specify the devices that constitute said wave, but his emphasis on thinness and lightness leads us to believe he's talking up Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 models

INTELS PAYS NVIDIA $1.5B AND AGREES TO CROSS-LICENSE DEAL

Intel and NVidia have announced a new six-year cross-licensing deal that will see Intel paying NVIDIA a total of $1.5b over the next five years for access to NVIDIA's technology, while also giving NVIDIA a license to some of Intel's patents. The two companies have also agreed to drop all pending litigation, because you know, they're now friends who just exchanged a billion and half dollars. Crucially, Intel won't give up rights to x86, flash memory or "certain chipsets," so we don't really know if this agreement allows NVIDIA to produce integrated graphics for Sandy Bridge -- although most manufacturers are going with an Optimus-style discrete / integrated switchable arrangement that pairs Intel's on-die graphics with a discrete NVIDIA chip anyway, so we're not so sure it actually matters. We would love to see NVIDIA support Intel's Wireless Display 2.0 and the new Insider 1080p movie service, though -- and if these two coming closer together results in better Intel on-board graphics that can rival AMD Fusion, well, things will get very interesting indeed. [Engadget]

ACER UNVEILS 3D LAPTOP

Wondering when computer makers would follow the lead of television manufacturers and get around to making an affordable 3D computer? Acer has just announced just such a laptop, the Acer AS5745DG-A54E/L (great name Acer, everyone will remember that one....NOT!)

The 3D notebook will feature a 15.6-inch screen, an NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M GPU with NVIDIA’s 3D VISION at 120Hz, a 2.53GHz Intel Core i5-460M processor, 4GB of RAM, a 640GB hard drive, HDMI, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi b/g/n and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. It also ships with 3D VISION glasses, of course. Pricing hasn’t yet been announced, though Acer did say the AS5745DG-A54E/L will be available in Japan on December 3rd for “less than” 100,000 yen, which is roughly $1,200 US. Acer has not yet addressed availability outside of Japan. [BGR]