Intel Leaves Door Open to x86 Windows Phones, Teases 22 nm Merrifield

From DailyTech: Intel Corp. (INTC) has big plans for x86 smartphones. Its capable first showing, Medfield, demonstrated that Intel could make a decent smartphone system-on-a-chip, even if besting the cream of the ARM Holdings plc (LON:ARM) licensee crop was a work in progress.

Intel's initial efforts have focused on Android. But the company says it's also leaving the door open to another licensed third-party operating system -- Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows Phone.

Hermann Eul, president of Intel's Mobile Communications Group, spoke to the IDG News service at Computex 2012 about the possibility. He comments, "We would be [interested] when we see [the Windows Phone] market has a good chance to return our money that we have invested into this. Our roadmap has devices that can support Windows also on phones. So we can do that. The hooks for doing that [are] there."

Currently, the only smartphone operating system supported by Medfield other than Android is Tizen -- an alternative Linux-based operating system. The Tizen project recent merged in the code of Meego OS after Intel's Meego partner Nokia Oyj. (OMX:NOK1V) abandoned the project for Windows Phone.

Tizen is also backed by Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KSC:005930), but Samsung has yet to launch devices using the experimental OS. Of the nebulous project Intel would only say, "The current trend of statistics is pretty clear, Android is gaining the largest share of the market so that is where the money is. We support Tizen as well, we haven't announced any product on this, but being in the Tizen alliance it's clear we are also engaged there."

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