Intel has prepared a number of Android Ice Cream Sandwich “packages” for potential smartphones and tablets powered by Santa Clara’s upcoming Medfield processor.
As IDG’s Agam Shah notes, the x86 friendly version of Android 4 raises the possibility of Intel-inside handheld devices hitting the market sometime in 2012.
Indeed, Santa Clara is already working with device makers to optimize and fine-tune the OS for specific platforms and products based on Medfield chips.
“We’ll see products next year on Gingerbread (2.3), Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) and Honeycomb (3.0),” explained Alec Gefrides, head of the Google Program Office at Intel.
“Every OEM has to put a stake in the ground to get a product delivered.”
Gefrides also stated that Intel was grateful other (indie) devs were working on porting Android to x86, but reiterated drivers would be released to the open-source community only when devices hit the market to ensure proper functionality and prevent fragmentation.
“Intel has to focus resources on building products, not experiments,” he added.
Fielding x86-powered smartphones and tablets is obviously quite an important goal for Intel, as the mobile market is currently dominated by devices powered by ARM’s RISC-based processors.
