In Intel Corp and Google have announced that they will work together to optimise future versions of Google's Android mobile software for Intel's "Atom" processors. Both companies are hopeful that this partnership will lead to the development of future Intel-powered smartphones.
This move could give a big fillip to Intel's efforts to expand into the market for mobile phones and touchscreen tablet devices at a time when sales of PCs are slowing. It is being expected that the first series of Android based phones, which feature Intel chips could become available by the first half of 2012.
Google is one of the biggest players in the mobile industry. In August, the company announced plans to acquire mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The Android OS, which Google licenses free to manufacturers, is currently the most popular smartphone software, ahead of Apple's iOS as well as software by Microsoft and Research in Motion.
Intel continues to be the world's No. 1 maker of PC microprocessors. However, the company has struggled to gain a foothold in the new class of mobile gadgets such as smartphones and tablets. Most of modern smartphones are currently using chips from companies like Texas Instruments and Samsung that in turn license technology from ARM Holdings.
Those chips are considered more power efficient than Intels - a key factor for handheld, battery-powered devices. At the companys developer conference in San Francisco, the Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini, said the smartphone market is still in its early stages. The smartphone business is not established in terms of the ultimate shake-out of who's going to win and who is going to lose.
To make his point, Otellini added, You saw what happened in terms of how fast Android took share from Apple. So good products on good platforms can really still make a big difference in this industry. Now that Intel has already won over Google, it has to make an attempt to win the hardware makers. If it manages to do there could be a virtual deluge of Intel powered smartphones in the market.
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