Nokia's marginalization of MeeGo came as a surprise to Intel

Yesterday's announcement by Nokia that it's switching to Windows Phone 7 as its primary smartphone platform has already had, and will continue to have, great repercussions for plenty of parties besides the Finnish company and its new best bud Microsoft. One of the biggest effects of that deal was that Nokia now no longer considers MeeGo -- the open-source OS it was co-developing with Intel -- an item of priority, classifying it as a "learning project." No prizes for guessing Intel's nowhere near happy about that, but would you have also guessed Nokia kept Chipzilla in the dark about its new direction until the day it announced it to the world? Such is the word from TechCrunch's well placed sources, who also say that Nokia dedicated only a three-man external team to the development of UI customizations for MeeGo. Not exactly the hugest investment in the world, we'd say, and when you consider Nokia and Microsoft already have concept devices drawn up, you've got to think plans to abandon MeeGo as a sincere flagship strategy were materializing in Espoo a long time before this event. It would probably have been nice to tell Intel, though, just to be classy. Hit the source link for more detail, including confirmation that Nokia's N9-00, its first planned MeeGo device, was canned -- apparently due to complaints from operators about its hinge.

Source: (Engadget)

Intel to Continue Work on MeeGo

If Intel has its way, MeeGo won't be fading away as quickly as Nokia wants it to. The open sourced operating system, which has yet to make a retail presence, is still part of Intel's strategy, with or without Nokia. The company remarks:

While we are disappointed with Nokia's decision, Intel is not blinking on MeeGo. We remain committed and welcome Nokia's continued contribution to MeeGo open source.

Our strategy has always been to provide choice when it comes to operating systems, a strategy that includes Windows, Android, and MeeGo. This is not changing.

MeeGo is not just a phone OS, it supports multiple devices. And we're seeing momentum across multiple segments - automotive systems, netbooks, tablets, set-top boxes and our Intel silicon will be in a phone that ships this year.

It's hard to imagine Intel drumming up a new hardware partner at this point, given that most OEMs have already chosen their side of the smartphone wars. Though it's unlikely, Intel could make its own hardware with MeeGo as a hedge against its other investments. Or, it can continue to work with non-phone partners to integrate MeeGo into other devices, like netbooks, tablets, etc.

Source: (Pocketnow)

Nokia N9 to make appearance during MWC with Intel inside

Next month, the Nokia N9 is expected to be introduced during the MWC in Barcelona. Note that we said "during" the MWC and not "at" the MWC. That is because like last year when the MeeGo OS was introduced, the Finnish based company is not exactly scheduled to make a presentation at the show. Instead, Nokia will make its presentation at a location nearby the MWC.

With a 1.2MHz Atom processor rumored to be on board, Nokia continues its partnership with Intel which itself is trying hard to break into the business of providing processors and chipsets for cell phones. If the speculation is dead on, the N9 will be Nokia's fastest handset to date. The phone will have the Nokia-Intel produced MeeGo OS under the hood, feature a 12MP camera and be equipped with a QWERTY keyboard.

With "Intel inside", perhaps Nokia will get more than just a passing look from Stateside carriers with the N9.



Source:(phoneArena)