Intel is currently in the process of porting Honeycomb (Android 3.0) for use with x86-powered tablets.
“We’ve received the Android code – the Honeycomb version of Android source code – from Google, and we’re actively doing the port on that,” Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during a recent conference call with analysts transcribed by The Register.
”We expect to be able to ramp those [Honeycomb-based] machines over the course of this year for a number of customers.”
Otellini also took the opportunity to plug Intel’s Oak Trail (tablet) platform, claiming “good design momentum” across multiple operating systems.
“Over the course of this year, Intel will have tablet platforms that run Windows, Android, and MeeGo,” he said.
In addition, the CEO sought to reassure industry reps that Intel was focused on bringing a smartphone to market by 2012.
“We remain committed to success in the smartphone segment. I would be very disappointed if we didn’t see Intel-based phones for sale 12 months from now.
“[As such], we’re actively working with a large number of handset manufacturers and carriers around the world on Medfield-based designs.”
However, Otellini conceded that Nokia’s decision to adopt Microsoft’s Windows 7 platform had taken “a lot of the wind out of the sails” for Intel’s 2011 smartphone initiative.
“We’ve redirected those resources onto a number of other major accounts, focusing on carriers who want their own devices, and also on handset manufacturers.
“They’re all based on Medfield, which I think is still the first 32 nanometer phone apps processor in the industry.”
Unsurprisingly, Otellini also took a swipe at ARM’s domination of the mobile market, claiming “it’s not just about the core, as much as we would like it to be.”
“[Yes], it’s about the core, [but also] the overall capability of the system-on-chip, the things you put around it – the graphics, the comm subsystems, the media-processing subsystems – and the overall power envelope relative to the performance that you can deliver of the SoC.”
