FUTURE ANDROID BUILDS TO SUPPORT INTEL PROCESSORS

During the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco on Tuesday, Google’s Android head Andy Rubin took the stage with Intel CEO Paul Otellini and announced that future versions of Google’s Android operating system will be optimized to support Intel’s Atom processors. Intel has been glaringly absent from the smartphone space, which has been dominated by NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. “By optimizing the Android platform for Intel architecture, we bring a powerful new capability to market that will accelerate more industry adoption and choice, and bring exciting new products to market that harness the combined potential of Intel technology and the Android platform,” said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. “Combining Android with Intel’s low power smartphone roadmap opens up more opportunity for innovation and choice,” said Andy Rubin.

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

INTEL TO CONTINUE MEEGO DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT NOKIA

With Nokia's recent announcement that they would be moving to the Windows Phone 7 platform, many wondered what would happen to the MeeGo platform Nokia was developing in conjuction with Intel. Intel's CEO Paul Otellini spoke with Bloombergat Mobile World Congress to allay any fears of the demise of MeeGo.

Otellini said that he doesn't see that "Nokia changing its strategy changes the industry strategy," and added that "operators still look for an open, operator-friendly operating system." Otellini further went on to say on a panel discussion that he "understood" why Nokia made the decision it did, and even said that if he were in the same position he would have made "the same or a similar call." That doesn't mean he wasn't disappointed by it though