Guest post by Sure, Intel’s been raking it in with the Atom that is powering so many netbooks being sold in these economically challenged times, but now the chip company is hoping to take a cut of an even more mobile market– that of MIDs, or mobile Internet devices.
Intel is adapting its Atom processor to vie with that of the ARM classification, which are popularly included in iPhones and other mobile devices. Intel will begin pumping out a new, lower-powered version of the processor, branded Moorestown, in 2009 or 2010, designed especially for MIDs. Along with making the Atom more mobile-worthy, Intel is developing an open source OS, dubbed Moblin 2, to be included on its MIDs.
These upcoming MIDs are not exactly smartphones– they’ll lack certain phone-centric capabilities while incorporating more that give it the feel of a desktop system, making a sort of cross-breed between smartphone and netbook– but are expected to take a cut out of Apple’s iPhone market, not to mention Microsoft’s dwindling Windows Mobile fleet. The said MIDs could be used “to play high-definition video, make Internet-powered phone calls, or download directions and local business listings on the go,” though I imagine it will hold plenty of more capabilities in store so as to truly compete with Apple and Microsoft.
Microsoft casts a leery, and possibly somewhat jealous, eye at Intel’s attempts to enter the mobile market. “I’m not sure there’s a third category of device” in between the cell phone and the netbook, said Andy Lees, a senior vice-president in Microsoft’s mobile communications area. “The thing that distinguishes a phone is it goes in your pocket or purse. If you have a six-inch screen, that’s no-man’s land.”
Whether Intel is successful and creates a new hybrid market between smartphone and netbook is to be decided by consumers.
I had a look at the new Moblin release and it is an american quilt (as in patchy and cluttered).
Lots and lots of libs and XFCE4 as the destop .. hmmm .. I think with Qt 4.5 being LGPL most of the work should be scrapped and they should use Clutter on Qt and maybe even drop Clutter.
I know they have invested a lot in Gnome Mobile and Clutter, but if you look at features and productivity Qt beats the current solution IMNSHO.
I strongly agree with you about Qt4.5, but neve underestimate a developer pride.. Even if WidgetOnCanvas were 100 times better then Clutter I think they would prefer continue developing Clutter..
But I don’t agree that Moblin is unimpressive. They are working hard on great things like (amazing) boot speed, and I think it’s because Moblin that intel is investing so much in Xserver, with things like kernel-mode-setting, GEM, DRI2 and so on.
I recommend this video: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_moblin_2&n…
While it would be amazing to see Intel develop x86 solutions suitable for the MID/super-smartphone market, I just can’t help but think that ARM has developed much too much of a lead here. For Intel to have had an impact in this market, they would have had to have been smart enough not to sell off their StrongARM/XScale stuff.