Intel remained the only major supporter of MeeGo and despite its virtually non-existant presence in tablets, the chip maker doesn’t seem shattered as it is planning a more aggressive strategy in the mobile department, kickstarted by the unveiling of more than 10 tablets at Computex on May 31st, according to the company’s chief executive Paul Otellini.
The devices are expected with a new family of tablet-optimized Oak Trail chips, in contrast to virtually all current slates running on ARM silicon. Among the tablets, we’ll see some running MeeGo, but Android tablets are also in the works and we expect to see Windows-powered slates by the chip maker.
Intel announced its third big shift in chip development in an attempt to shift focus on power-efficient silicon for the booming smartphone and tablet markets, as well as to rationalize new designs for laptops. Better late then never, but it remains to be seen how will tablet makers react to the move as the slate wars are well past their initial stage. Companies like Apple have already rolled out second-generation of their tablets. Currently, ARM-based chips are being manufactured by companies like NVIDIA (with its Tegra lineup), Qualcomm (Snapdragon), Texas Instruments (OMAP processors) and Samsung (Hummingbird), while Intel Atom is virtually non-present.
At the same time, the company’s Asia Pacific manager Navin Shenoy commented that over 35 tablet models running on Intel-made chips will be launched this year. Shenoy reassured investors that the company’s production line is not affected by the devastating earthquake in Japan.
source: Wall Street Journal via Engadget
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