Intel’s next UMPC platform to be Maemo based?
By Stefan Constantinescu on Sunday, April 15th, 2007 at 9:54 PM PST In Uncategorized
While these preliminary screen shots might not be of high quality, you can definitely spot a similarity to Maemo.
Did Nokia (NYSE: NOK) create a product category and now others are taking notice or has Intel had this idea sitting in the back burner and only now just starting to talk about it?
At least Intel is using the Mozilla rendering engine, something I strongly prefer to Opera.
I welcome the competition and I certainly think this is a good thing for our industry.
More information can be found here: [PDF file]
Nokia need to get their act together on the software front where Maemo and Internet Tablets are concerned – the software is in continual beta state, it’s never finished before Nokia kill the device and replace it with the next big thing.
Intel will kick Nokias arse with their device. The platform will be more stable and the software will be better as I’m sure Intel will have more control over the hardware than Nokia currently do – Nokia don’t have rights to the 3D hardware or the video accelaration and of course Opera is closed source and Adobe haven’t updated Flash beyond 7 on ARM. Intel will have the luxury of Mozilla (which Nokia could also have if they got their hear out of their combined arses) and Flash 9 on x86. Not to mention they’ll probably have fairly good 2D/3D acceleration with open source drivers, and significantly more power due to core duo processors.
Weight, battery life (and possibly price) will be the only factors preventing the Intel device from wiping the floor with Nokia. This could get ugly, but at least Nokia have another 12-18 months to get it right.
‘continual beta state’ is right
I own an N800 and I feel like Nokia’s lab rat.