Information Madness

Intel working to port Android to runs with x86. Soon we'll see Intel Atom netbooks running Android as an OS instead of Windows or a Linux distro. Presently Android is popular on smartphones and running ARM-based chips. A few tablets are starting to appear with Android as an OS, but expect that to grow significantly now due to the work of Intel. According to Intel, we will see a netbook running Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ and Atom before the end of the summer.

The highly-anticipated Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ release looks set to mark another stage in the evolution of Google’s mobile OS with the move onto PC-standard x86 architecture. Renee James, Intel’s senior VP for software and services, said, "Our expectation is that (native x86 Android) will be based on the Froyo release and will be available this summer to developers."

Not only will Android be available on Intel hardware, but it will be the latest 2.2 Froyo release. Although only promising a developer build, that should pave the way for consumer netbooks before the end of the year, and smartphones after that.

Android was originally written for the ARM processors which power most smartphones, along with the new class of slates and 3G ‘smartbooks’. But Intel has been adapting Android’s open source code to run as a native x86 operating system so that its army of hardware partners can use Atom processors

for Android tablets, netbooks and, at some stage in the future, smartphones.

With this step Intel is both protecting itself and opening up new markets for its hardware. On the one hand it is about to face the introduction of Chrome OS for netbooks. That’s another operating system geared to run on ARM chips, so could see Intel lose out on netbook sales. But if it has an Android equivalent, and importantly, an equivalent at the same price point, then it can better compete.

Google is seeing 160,000 new Android smartphones used every day. That the main reason to every company running after Android.