14 DAY TRIAL // Intel and Nokia announced a while ago the signing of a deal aimed at the release of mobile devices based on a new platform, MeeGo, resulted from the merger of Moblin and Maemo, but it all turned to dust earlier this year, when Nokia partnered with Microsoft for the launch of Windows Phone devices.
Intel already said it blamed Nokia for leaving the ship, and it seems that it still considers that the partnership was a mistake, at least this is what the company's CEO stated recently.
“In hindsight, Nokia was the wrong partner to have picked,” said Intel CEO Paul Otellini, a recent article on Techradar reads.
He also noted that the company might have gained a lot more provided that it had chosen a different partner instead of teaming up with Nokia.
Even so, it seems that they did not abandon plans of coming to the market with smartphones that would be powered by MeeGo.
Moreover, the company also aims at releasing such devices with Intel chips inside, something that should have happened this year.
Nokia was expected to release an Intel-based smartphone before the end of the ongoing year, but the company's new goals altered the roadmap.
However, Intel says that they would still have their chip packed inside a mobile phone in a year's time.
“You'll see the first Intel-based phones in the first part of next year,” Otellini stated. He also added that there would be “phones shipping in the market from major players.”
For those out of the loop, we should note that South Korean mobile phone maker LG is expected to showcase a MeeGo-based smartphone as soon as next week.
Chances are that the said device would be powered by Intel silicon. One way or the other, the chip maker is focused on making its first steps in the mobile area, thus partnering with other manufacturers for the release of smartphones.
“We had been working with Nokia very closely almost exclusively, [so] we have freed up those people and turned that [design] into a reference design that we are shopping to a number of companies,” Otellini continued.
“Smartphones are an area of intense focus, we have new management in that area and we will be very successful in this area,” he concluded.