Intel’s president and chief executive officer Paul Otellini told reporters and analysts during a conference call on Tuesday announcing Intel’s first-quarter 2011 financial results that Intel is working on a x86 port of Android 3.0 Honeycomb.
This is an interesting development from many angles. This announcement represents another nail in the coffin for the MeeGo operating system which Intel has been a primary partner. If you recall Nokia who was also a primary MeeGo partner has recently thrown its weight behind Microsoft and its Windows Mobile platform. The future for MeeGo looks bleak indeed.
For the record Google has yet to release the Android 3.0 source code to the public. This development places Intel among one of the few companies outside of Google themselves to have access, giving them a powerful head start in development. Hopefully they will see fit to release the source code soon and address the rising tide of complaints concerning the platforms openness.
From the conference call:
"We've received the Android code – the Honeycomb version of Android source code – from Google, and we're actively doing the port on that"
Intel launched a platform designed specifically for tablets called Oak Trail last week, putting them on a direct collision course with ARM in the mobile market. Only time will tell if this platform has the legs to compete with ARM especially in terms of power consumption.
