Already in my calendar yesterday was a short-notice conference call from Intel. Apparently they have an announcement to make. This morning I woke to see the keywords Intel and Nokia streaming through twitter and google reader. The rumor is that Nokia will be using Intel inside.
I assume this is a Moorestown product win which means it sits alongside the LG announcement for a 2010 product launch If this is true, it’s a really significant step forward for Intel in the Ultra Mobile and smartphone market.
Questions to be asked:
- Is it going to be voice enabled?
- What operating system (Moblin, Maemo or Symbian)
- Are Nokia simply testing the market and technology (in which case i’d expect it to be in a next-gen Nokia tablet rather than a phone)
- If it’s a tablet, does it mean that the OMAP3-based tablet is scrapped?
The rumor comes from Bloomberg. The press call is at 1130am EST. Expect news on UMPCPortal as at breaks.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:37 am
New article: Rumor: Intel Scores Nokia as Atom customer. http://cli.gs/8nTUt
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Right on!!! Thanks and keep us posted.
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I recall some rumors about nokia looking into netbooks, but beyond that this is a surprise…
Chippy Reply:
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Yes. Thats something extra to think about although the Ultra Mobility group that is holding this meeting is more concerned with Menlow and Moorestown.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
As “turn_self_off” states, there’s some rumors about an up-coming Nokia netbook. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re using Atoms for that.
But for phones? I would be shocked to see them go with Atoms at this point. They’re still too power hungry to even hope to compete with ARM based phones.
Chippy Reply:
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
But ‘at this point’ means 2010 when the Moorestown platform would fit with some high-end smartphones and tablets. Moblin and Maemo don’t seem to fit into this though.
A Nokia smartbook with Moblin and Intel would be a strange move. A bit like Archos’ netbook. Not their core business.
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:14 pm
A Nokia Atom netbook with integrated 3G would make sense. They already have strong relationships with hundreds of mobile phone carriers around the world so why not sell them all 3G enabled netbooks in addition to phones.
You could begin to see a lot more “free” netbooks being advertised (if you sign up to a 24-month 3G data contract).