Intel have scored a hit for their AppUp store. If you’ve got a netbook you can download it via the AppUp store. I’ve tested it and it’s working really nicely. I’ll be doing more ‘testing’ as soon as I can!

This is the sort of application that will start to attract attention for AppUp and while I suspect it was an Intel-supported port by Rovio, it won’t take too many of these before AppUp becomes a well-known and self-seeding product. The stats from this will be very interesting indeed. I’m sure Intel will be watching how many people download AppUp and keeping tabs on numbers from Rovio!

You can download AppUp and buy Angry Birds for your netbook here.

So here I am, in Las Vegas, stuck in a room testing games. Life’s hard!

I’m surprised that Intel have been allowed to announce partner names but in a presentation at the Barclays Capital 2010 Global Technology Conference, Paul Otellini has done just that and highlighted that Windows, MeeGo and Android will be on Atom next year.

The report comes via CNet who tracked the live audio from the conference and picked up that the Android builds will be both Froyo and Gingerbread. He also highlighted that Oaktrail is the Windows-compatible version of the new platform and Moorestown optimised even further and supporting only MeeGo and Android. That much we knew already. We also know from previous information that smartphones on Moorestown are taking longer than planned. Behind the scenes, I’m getting the feeling that Moorestown won’t be used for phones and that the focus is now on Medfield, due in late 2011. Note also that the Android build is behind MeeGo. That’s information that we were given at IDF in Sept 2010 and it means that those devices could be planned for the second half.

Slightly disappointing is that the slide shows only Tablets and that the bulk of these are Windows. Some of those won’t even be on the mobile platform because the netbook platform is going to feature. Focus should really be on unique designs such as smart-books, social netbooks and how about a bit of keyboard love? Continuing use of Windows with its lack of ‘always-on’ and business focus is just going to end up with devices that get bad reviews.

Highlight for me is Dell using Android. This will be on Moorestown and could be their 10” offering. If so, that’s a great win for Intel.

The good news here is that Moorestown is ready. I heard only last week that it’s been in production for months now. It only needs the OS to be completed and we’re away with a new always-on option and the first X86 platform that doesn’t support a Microsoft OS! I just hope that those MeeGo devices are going to be ground-breaking otherwise Nokia will NOT be happy!

Via Netbook News

It’s hard to believe that the iPhone launched without an application store but it did. If you’ve lived with ‘apps’ for any length of time you’ll appreciate the advantages and probably won’t want to go back to a place without an integrated app store right?

• Discovery
• Try-and-Buy
• Unified Billing
• Discussion / Comment / Sharing
• Developer opportunity (money, fame!)
• Diversity / Niche applications
• Device Customisation
• Application control and conformity
• Centralised security checks
• One-stop-shop
• Competition / Comparison of similar applications
• 3rd-party Curation

Yes, apps have been around for a long time but the app store brings many important advantages. It’s big business.

Wipconnector now lists over 100 app stores and in the latest report (PDF) asks the question – “How Many App Stores is Too Many.” It’s almost the same question as “How Many Blogs is Too Many?” and we all know that there’s enough desire, demand and advertising out there to drive a scary number. My prediction is that the number of store ‘fronts’ will continue to rise but we might see consolidation on the back end. API’s, SDK’s and submission processes that align and then offer multiple store fronts (based on device type, software brand or genre) seem the perfect solution to applications stores with huge numbers of apps. Actually, blogs and app store fronts could link up very well with blogs driving the SEO and readership to a niche audience and then offering a tailored application store with reviews and a percentage of revenue. It’s certainly something I want to do in the mobile computing niche when possible.

Maybe I’ll have a different view at the end of next week though as I expect to learn a lot more at two Intel-sponsored sessions. The first is App World at Olympia in London. On the 1st Dec (Wednesday) I’ll be hosting a 4-hour session where Intel representatives will talk about the Intel AppUp Developer Program, the AppUp store for Windows and MeeGo, the opportunities and software engineers will be present to help developers get started.

“We’ll be discussing revenue opportunities for Adobe AIR* and Windows* C/C++ developers, as well as how you can optimise existing iOS, Windows and runtime applications for netbooks.”

I’ll be around for the day so if you’re at the event, drop by and say hi!

After App World I’ll be flying over to Berlin for the Intel App Lab to practice my ‘Denglisch.’  Again, I’m introducing speakers at the event and looking forward to meeting people in what has to be one of the hottest cities in Europe for new media software and services.

“Hear why you should develop for the Intel AppUpSM center, learn about the monetization opportunities, see live coding demonstrations and talk to Intel experts in our staffed hands on training session. Bring your code and questions!”

You can find information and register here. The event is free and there’s a chance to win a netbook along with other prizes. Beer, pizza and chat after the event too!

See you there.
Chippy

We were lucky enough to get a few days with the Aava / Intel / Meego phone earlier this year and our tests with the handset UX showed that there was a lot of work to do. In a presentation at the MeeGo onference in Dublin today, we saw progress, a good working demo and future planning but still, there’s so much missing. Granted, these user-experiences are just baseline builds to show how the core features can be used but still, it seems to us there are some hooks that need to be added.

With no active icons support (showing number of unread emails for example) and a single homescreen with no widget support it means that product developers will have a lot of work to do to implement these features. On the other hand, the notifications subsystem looks good with support for multiple notification types triggering multiple different notification methods including notification lights, haptics and of course, dialog boxes. We didn’t see any dialog box handling mechanism though so we’re hoping this will be well controlled when it gets implemented.

The demo was done on a Moorestown based Aava Smartphone platform.

We’ve spent a week in San Francisco at one of the biggest developer shows of the year and haven’t posted a single article on Carrypad yet and that’s because most of what we saw was Windows-based. That, in our eyes, isn’t exactly the ideal solution for consumer-focused solutions we would be reporting on at Carrypad. The Dell Duo was cool but it’s Windows 7 on a netbook platform with a launcher. The ExoPC was cool but once again, it was a Windows 7 netbook without the keyboard. The Ocosmos OC1 was amazing but once again, its a Windows 7 device.

Only one item stood out for me in terms of consumer-focused solutions and I haven’t reported on it yet – Its an Android tablet…on Intel.

More images in the gallery.

We don’t know too much about the device yet because the NFS NPad was being used as a demonstrator by another company but from what we see, Moorestown is going to enable far far better consumer-focused solutions than the N450 and N550 solutions we’ve been seeing running Windows. It was thin and very light (comparable to the Archos 101 which runs on an ARM Cortex core) and surprisingly, running Android. A quick look around the net tells us that the NPad also appeared at Computex and has also been spotted running Red Flag’s MeeGo-based Linux distribution. This is a sign of what might happen when MeeGo meets Moorestown so if you’re not worried about Windows but still want a powerful tablet, this could be worth waiting for.

We’re getting a clearer picture of the operating system strategy from Google today as PCMag reports on Eric Schmidt’s closing keynote at IFA in Berlin. Apart from talking about the future of search, location search, fast search, personal search and the growth in mobile web and smartphones, he confirmed in a Q&A that Chrome OS is targeted at netbooks.

The next question is ‘what is a netbook’ but at least the strategy for Chrome OS aligns with what Google said on day one. If we consider Chrome OS to be a very fast way to access Google search and web applications and add the web application layer/web app store then you have a basic framework for a web-based user interface and application layer for a simple Linux-based PC. Interestingly, that Linux-based core could come from the Android space, from Linaro, from MeeGo or any of the other mobile-focused Linux platforms and could even contain an Android environment as part of the user-layer but we get the impression that Google is going it alone on this as a separate project. It will be interesting to see what netbook manufacturers pick it up and work their drivers and customisations into it because at the moment, the Intel/Nokia-backed MeeGo appears to have the better position.

With Chrome OS targeted at netbooks it would be easy to summise now that Android 3.0 is for next-gen high-end smartphones, tablets and smart-books. We need to be a little careful though because Google is also putting a lot of effort into TV and Eric Schmidt confirmed in his keynote that Android is a part of Google TV. Could this be the target for Android 3.0? Whatever the strategy here, the key point is that Google will open Android up to new screen sizes. Its a clear signal for developers to start thinking about large-screen applications.

When will this happen? Chrome partnerships will be announced later this year but Android 3.0 timescales are less clear.

With companies like Samsung, Dell and Toshiba moving real products into this space now and with Samsung pushing for 10M sales of the Galaxy Tab [That seems way too high to me – Chippy] there must be people at Google thinking about speeding up the Android 3.0 process. Major changes to Market and their app suite would be needed so this isn’t a minor task but with HP, Nokia, Intel and others breathing down their necks, it has to happen soon.

See also: Question Marks that Remain Over Q4 Tablets

Sidenote: Intel are working on an X86 port of Android for their ‘always-on’ capable platforms for 2011. These platforms are targeted at the 4-10” screen space and so clearly something has to happen with large screen support. With Intel and a key member of the Open Handset Alliance and a close Google partner (Google TV for example) we should also watch for clues from that side of the camp. Intel are likely to have X86-Android ready for mid-late 2011 and this, according to Intel, will be offered up as an official X86 Android. Some of this Intel/Android work is also likely to be part of Google TV.

The full and very interesting keynote is available here.

Via netbooknews.de

We’ve got a day off from the chaos of IFA today while we participate in the Intel Developers Day in Berlin.(Facebook page)  We’re hearing about Atom, Meego, AppUp and other elements of the ecosystem. We’re also trying our best to stream it out via MeetMobility. Check out Meetmobility Live for the current stream. Some will be  in German and we’re at risk from bandwidth limitations.

WeTab is also here:

One of the events I’ll be attending around the IFA consumer show is the Intel Software event at the Homebase Lounge. It runs throughout the 4th September and focuses on netbooks, tablets, related Intel platforms and software including MeeGo and AppUp. There will be presentations throughout the days and experts and community members around to talk to. I’m not 100% sure but I think Sascha and I might do a MeetMobility podcast there too so if you’re in the area for IFA or just want to come along for day of developer-focused Atom and MeeGo-related information and discussion (along with a few drinks and some food!) check out the event Facebook page. It’s in German but Google’s translation works well.

Oh, one other thing, apparently there’s going to be a surprise device there for hands-on. I have no idea what it is but I bet it will be something that is launched at IFA which probably means a Moorestown or Oaktrail-based tablet running MeeGo. I’ll also be bringing a bunch of Atom devices too so there will be some more chances for hands-on.

Note: Article title is a tounge-in-cheek reference to a recent ARSTechnica article. See below for the real story. It’s actually all about the browser engine and platform, not the OS.

As I begin a series of tests on the Aava prototype phone today, the first thing I wanted to get out of the way was a Sunspider javascript test. It’s CPU-intensive and forms an important part of the chain of events that take place to get a web application displayed on your browser. Yes, it’s one of many variables but it’s a good indicator of CPU performance.

I’ve been recording SunSpider tests for a long time now (feel free to contribute to that list) and have been very impressed by the way that both hardware and software improvements have brought the figures down. In the ARM-based world, the best-in-class devices are producing SunSpider results in less than 10 seconds (iPad, iPhone 4) with some new devices even reaching down to sub 6 seconds [See title reference.] In the world of Intel, netbooks are producing Sunspider results of about 2 seconds (using the latest Chrome build.)

Click to enlarge.

Above is the result for the Aava phone I’m testing at the moment. 4215ms. It runs on Intel’s Moorestown platform at 1.5Ghz and uses the same CPU as you find in netbooks. Running Sunspider on the latest Firefox build on the netbook and the Firefox Mobile build on the MeeGo-based Aava phone you can see the difference is marginal. 4.2 seconds for a prototype phone is quite impressive. The figures confirm the CPU speed and also confirm that the sunspider score is likely to drop to around 2 seconds with the latest Chrome or Android browser build. Try Sunspider on your phone or PC browser to see what score you get. For reference, I use a UMPC as my desktop PC. It runs a 1.6Ghz Atom CPU and returns a score of about 4.1s. True desktop PCs will come in at below 0.5s

We really are talking PC-power here but there are two things we must not forget. 1) Multi-core ARM-based devices are round the corner too. A dual-core 1.2Ghz Snapdragon platform is likely to reach right down to the 2-3s range. 2) We must also remember that if you were to run this test continuously on these high-power platforms, you are likely to have a dead phone in just a few hours!

As the epicenter of Intel’s work on a mobile operating systems shift slightly towards Europe, being here as an Intel Insider becomes a major advantage. On Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending a tweet-up with Josh Bancroft in Munich and today, we’re the recipients of some live images of MeeGo 1.1 and the handset UX running on an Intel-based (Moorestown) phone from Aava. The team responsible for some of the technical aspects of MeeGo and mobile platforms in Europe is obviously working hard and we look forward to meeting them at the MeeGo Summit in November but in the meantime, they’ve been kind enough to send over some images of one of the phones they are testing.

It’s images only at the moment but if everything we might goes to plan, we’ll be able to give you something special next week. Stay tuned!

Click through for full size images of the home screen, dialer and applications switching. There’s a signature style here and I like the little MeeGo people! Once again, stay tuned for more next week.

I got myself a big piece of Intel info-marketing at the Intel Atom Software Summit this week and it’s very clear and very significant that Intel managed to drag something like 200 people away from the Computex show floor for 2.5hrs. Atom, MeeGo and AppUp are such important parts of the Intel strategy now that they are getting pushed hard and it seems to be at least raising some eyebrows. The Intel Atom Software Summit at Computex was aimed at the ODM, OEM and operating system community in an effort bring them all up to date about what you might call the Continuum within the continuum. Intel talks about a horizontal line of silicon products that serve different markets (the ‘Compute Continuum’)but there’s a vertical within the Atom segment that includes software, user interface and applications. It starts with 6 Atom silicon platforms that support many operating systems. Windows and MeeGo getting special attention and getting their own application ecosystem which includes an application delivery framework, back-end billing, application marketing and developer support.

Here are some notes from the software summit that I hope outline the key points that Intel is trying to put across. The full slide set is available here. (PDF) More information links are included below.

Session notes

Navin Shenoy – VP Intel Asia Pacific introduced the compute continuum (Xeon, Core, Atom) by saying that “Software is the difference between success and failure” [slide: “User Experience”] and introduced Doug Fisher. VP Software and Services.

Doug presents…

[Slide: Mobile Internet is driving, possibly 10B units. ] The message here is that there’s a significant opportunity within the internet-connected device category.

Intel is a ‘Port of choice.” Multiple operating environments are offered. MeeGo Android Windows and Chrome were highlighted. [Sidenote: Chrome and Google are starting to appear more in the marketing i’m seeing.]

Value proposition Slide:

For OEMs:

• Open platform – critical for value
• Best internet Experience
• Faster time to market

For Service provider:

• Strong ecosystem
• Reduce Churn – consistent environment across ecosystem

Value for Developers

• Revenue opportunity.
• Consistent tools and API.

MeeGo, joint OS build and UI framework highlighted. May release achieved. 1.0 reviews were good. Highlighted. on slide.

Doug introduced some partners who highlighted their experience and expectation for MeeGo. As you would imagine, all three partners highlighted good experiences and expectations!

Novell’s Guy Lunardi talks about MeeGo 1.0

Telekom Italia: We are participating with MeeGo on Cubo Vision. The product was ready in 4 months.

Orange and MeeGo; [video]  Talks about value-add. Truly cross-platform device. No talk about real products. We can assume something is coming I guess.

Doung introduced demos of MeeGo 1.0 on netbook, IVI and Tablet.

Message to developers: Amount of work to move apps to move from one product to another is minimal. Only 20% of code base re-write needed (user interface)

Tablet Demo:

See video from yesterday for more on the MeeGo Tablet UI.

[Chippy sidenote: I think this is known as ‘Info Launcher’ and is a product of the MeeGo Enabling Center in Taiwan. It should be available later in the year. Note too that user interfaces are being developed alongside MeeGo and don’t fall into the 6-month update cycle planned for MeeGo.]

AppUp – The Intel framework for application stores on MeeGo and Windows operating systems.

Peter Biddle demonstrates AppUp on MeeGo for tablets AND handhelds (video) first time ever.

Peter: We see phenomenal market in consumer software. We are engaging with Dev community. How:Dev program includes tools, sales channel and marketing.

Plea to audience: Work with us to create customers. Peter highlights this as the kick-start. [Chippy sidenote: Intel needs AppUp to be pre-installed on devices to succeed]

Peter talks about the efforts being done. The work to connect with top iPhone devs. Intel have hired some iPhone devs to help define ‘small’ developer requirements. See slide below.

Biddle: We need to enable devs to get reputation because that is a significant requirement for many small devs.

Soma Games on stage: demo game: [video]

Konami on stage: Joe Morris talks about poetential. [Chippy: Would be great to see Konami games on the AppUp store.]

Peter continues on AppUp:

• Planning on coming out of beta soon.
• Not worried about our ability to attract developers. We need consumers.
• Online user awareness campaign has started.
• AppUp.com relaunched.
• AppUp demo on a Moblin smartphone (port to MeeGo is not complete yet)

Ellis Wang of Asus on stage:

Highlights the launch of Asus Access Cloud: Built on AppUp for notebook and Eee PC customers. Enhanced AppUp.

Note that ASUS and Acer have committed to releasing products that use MeeGo so one would expect that this service will appear there too.

Presentation ends.

At an after-event, we were given the opportunity to ask questions.

• Is multi-user support going into MeeGo? Yes, it will be added to the roadmap.
• MeeGo 1.1 will be released in October and will include always-on, sensor and gesture support. (It will support Oaktrail and Moorestown)
• 4 main user interfaces are being worked-on by user groups. [Chippy sidenote: I’ve heard of 5. Handheld, tablet, netbook. In-vehicle and TV]
• Intel has no position on the threat of patent issues with MeeGo (i.e.. No comment when I asked them whether MeeGo is guaranteed to be free from intellectual property issues.)
• AppUp is not something that will go into Intel’s Android build.
• Intel’s Android build is an official part of the Android work and work done will be sent back upstream.
• Intel’s intention is to have X86 Android devices recognised by Google. (i.e. marketplace, maps , sync etc.)

The summary here is that Intel want to enable a choice of stacks that can run on Atom solutions. Intel wish to enable an application ecosystem for Windows and in Meego, another, free software choice for some selected markets such as in-vehicle, tablets and handhelds. The big take-away for me though is that a huge amount of Intel marketing effort is going into MeeGo and AppUp.

Related:

My hands-on overview of MeeGo 1.0 on a netbook.

A close-up demo of MeeGo’s tablet user interface on an Oaktrail platform.

Intel official slide set from Atom Software Summit

Intel Fact Sheet – MeeGo* and Intel AppUp^SM Gain Momentum at Computex

One of the things that makes Android so attractive to consumers is the 60,000+ applications in the market. Its been a pivotal point for the Android eco-systems rapid development and its important for Android on Intel that developers can get their applications running on the x86 architecture.

So it was interesting to receive word that during Computex 2010 Aava Mobile announced Virta Android, a hardware-enhanced software developer kit for Android developers wishing to write applications for smartphones and tablets running the newest Intel Atom Z6xx Series processors.

The Virta Android is x86 smartphone with a tailored Android SDK ported to the Atom processor. It comes loaded with a capacitive touch screen accelerometer, GPS, haptic feedback, and video/still camera, modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and all connectivity for complete platform and application testing.

It has been developed by Aava Mobile in cooperation with Intel to accelerate development for Android on the x86 platform and is slated to ship in Q3 of this year.

More information can be found at Aava’s website www.aavamobile.com/ and check out JKKmobiles video from Computex 2010;

Lets wind back to June last year, the web was buzzing with the news that Google had announced it was releasing an operating system, well a browser that acts like one. The software architecture is simple Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel, its open source, lightweight  and Google intend to get to consumers in the second half of this year. When they announced the project 12 months ago Google stated “Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year.”

Now come to the present day and Computex 2010, the perfect theatre to show physical devices running your shiny new operating system, be them prototypes or final products and there are none?

To make matters worse, the news of Meego and demonstrations of the Tablet Experience user interface have left lasting impressions on not just me, but the likes of Joanna Stern of Engadget,

“We saw a lot of new technology demoed at Intel’s Computex keynote this afternoon, but the most impressive thing may have just been Meego running on a 10-inch Moorestown Quanta Redvale tablet. While the demo on stage was very brief, we caught up with some of the product managers right after the presser and convinced them to give us a peek at what is coming in 2011. To say we’re impressed with the “pre-alpha” version of the software is a huge understatement.”

Acer’s president Gianfranco Lanci pointed out at Intel’s e21FORUM 2010 meeting that Acer will launch netbooks and tablet PCs that adopt Intel’s latest Atom processor and will also preload the MeeGo platform on them.

Its obvious that MeeGo and Chrome OS are fundamentally different but given today’s age of publicity, advertising and hype, Google could have really done with having something to show at Computex.

[This was posted live during the Intel Ultra Mobility Event. 2nd June 2010. Excuse the formatting, brief analysis and spelling mistakes please!]

I’m ready to go into the ultra mobility event which starts at 1400 here in Taipei

Stay tuned for updates on Moorestown, Oak trail, MeeGo and AppUp…

We’ve just been given the fact sheet..

Acer Backs MeeGo, ASUS supports Intel AppUp Centre and MeeGo, MeeGo Tablet Demos, MeeGo V1.0 based products (9 demos listed) , Service providers Rally Around MeeGo, MeeGo Enabling Center.

More from fact-sheet:

Mandriva, Linpus (Lite), Novell (SUSE MeeGo), Red Flag (Red Flag inMini), Turbolinux (Great Turbo IVI) to release OS builds based on MeeGo.

1325 Doors should open soon.

Fact-Sheets uploaded to Flickr.

1333 We’re heading in…taking pics of display. brb!

Just had a quick peek into the demo area. Aava smartphone is showing 3D, video, gaming demos and girls…

1345 Seated at the front. The show starts in 15 minutes

Sascha from Netbooknews.de sitting next to me.

Open Peek Moorestown-based products on-stage.

2-minutes to go. Execs seated to the right of me. More importantly, Nicole from netbooknews just arrived.

Power usage demo on stage. Lights down. Here we go…

1404 Events kicks off, as usual, with a ‘thank you’ to Taiwan.

Anand Chandrasekhar (sp?) now on stage.

Anand talks about video consumptions. Content is getting richer. Sharing. Live sharing.

Matt Serletic from Music Mastermind on stage to demo a very cool studio on an X70

That was a cool demo. He basically layered up a track by using vocal input to set the sequence.

14:17 Anand continues, talks about Intel’s compute Continuum and ‘a little bit of magic.’ This is where we go to the power drain demo I guess…

Nope, we’re going into a video…about 1954 and the 4 minute mile. Breaking barriers is the theme I guess.

Anand goes on to talk about to the power barrier!

Anand holds up an ARM-based Blackberry and says ‘that’s a platform.’  goes on to talk about the 50x power reduction figures and how they related to a platform and not to silicon.

Video highlights smartphone and tablet. Talks about 8-10 hours battery life on the tablet.

Andy [?] of Open Peek now on stage demoing the product.

2:29 we’re getting a demo of the ‘Open Peek’ home energy app.

2:32 Talking about performance. There’s that sub 2 second SunSpider figure again.

These figures look correct to me. iPad is running 10 seconds on SunSpider.

Graphics and video slide highlights 1080p performance. (High Profile at 30fps) and 3D performance.

Interesting slide shows the battery life improvements over Menlow.

1437 Now watching a demo of battery drain. 100mw audio playback. Not bad!

1440 Comparing against competition now….

Quite some power in Anand’s voice at this stage. He’s pushing this point home.

In performance we’re “In a league by ourselves” with an average power consumption for the smartphone space.

World Of Warcraft being demonstrated on the Aava smartphone (on Moorestown) but the demo isn’t that impressive. Low FPS.

Quake demo shown. I have no idea if it’s good or bad!! Looks fast.

Mutitasking demo…of course….and a nice textured interactive 3D demo. Yeah, it looks quite impressive.

14:46 Video conferencing demo. Ofer Shapiro of Vidyo comes in live over a conference. 2 live screens shown. quality very good. 3rd video conference screen now added. It’s coming in via a Moorestown phone.

1452 We move into MeeGo. Sounds like this is a summary of what we heard this morning. I’ll have a post about that later. Doug Fisher steps up on stage

Tablet demo now. Oops. Didn’t work. Backup device sent to stage. Doug breaths again! (See out tablet demo from yesterday)

Brief slide on Medfield which is ‘on track’ closes up the event here. Anand rounds up with ‘best is yet to come’

That rounds it up. We’re off to the demo area and then to a private Q&A. Anyone got questions? Put them on twitter to @chippy and I’ll try and ask Anand.

Updated: Q&A Session reveals timeframes.

In a Q&A session following the event we had the chance to ask Anand questions about Moorestown and related products.

Chippy: “Premium performance, premium price?”  Anand responded to the effect that Intel will be aggressive with their pricing in order to get into the market saying that Intel will be ‘competitive’ and following up with ‘expect us to be hungry but not stupid.’

Sascha (netbooknews) asked about timeframes for products. Anand responded saying that products will ‘trickle’ in within a 6-12 months timeframe with tablets coming first. It’s not clear if he’s referring to MeeGo/Moorestown tablets or WIndows7/Oak trail tablets. We get the impression that there’s been a slight slip in the Moorestown program.

On Android: I asked about the project both to Anand and Doug Fisher.Was Android was just an internal project or something that is being worked-on with Google? It appears that the X86 branch of Android will become an official branch although some work will needs to be done on the power elements by Intel for its platforms. Medfield (the next generation after Moorestown) was mentioned so I assume that Android-on-Intel will be a late 2011 product.

In a press conference today, Intel presented their processor range for ultrathin laptops. Naturally, many of us want to know if the processors will reach down into the tablet space so I put the question forward to Mooly Eden (right.) It was given a surprising answer. Intel will disclose a special tablet solution at Computex.

Here’s the question and Mooly’s answer as an audio file.

Click to play the audio segment.

I can only assume that Mooly is talking about something in the ‘Atom’ family of processors. This could be Moorestown, Moorestown-W or perhaps, something completely new. We’ll find out next week.

The internet was abundant yesterday with news that Google had announced Android 2.2 or Froyo. Whilst a new version of Android with extra speed and flash support is certainly an exciting thing, for me it was over-shadowed by the news of Google TV.

I know, I know, why would another box to go under the TV and complicate the already muddy waters that are TV, cable, satellite, DVD, Blu-ray, etc get someone who loves innovative technology excited?

There are two reasons why;

Firstly at the heart of the Google TV set top box or new LCD is an Intel Atom processor. Intel have been making plenty of noise of late that the Atom can power Android, the operating system on which Google TV works and this has been the first real taste of this marriage which many have speculated about.

Secondly and more importantly, Google announced the full internet experience on your TV. Not Android’s standard mobile browser, the full internet experience including flash. To achieve this they will use Chrome.

Why is this significant? Just think about it, Android running Chrome, a full internet experience browser on an operating system that I think is going to be one of main two used in the emerging ‘smart’ devices market.

Chippy has posted his review today of the Compaq Airlife 100 ‘smart’ device (full specifications);

“The mobile operating systems are built with short-term use in mind and although they offer new and interesting features that you don’t get on your desktop, they don’t offer the full internet experience that we all expect. If you use the Airlife 100 as a traditional laptop, as one might expect from something that looks like a traditional laptop, you will run into issues”

Imagine how the review would have gone if the Airlife 100 had Chrome, the several day battery life and instant on of Android and the full internet experience and browsing prowess of Chrome.

Will it happen? I don’t know and there is certainly no suggestion that Chrome will come with Android on these new bread of ‘smart’ devices. We also have to remember that Google announced its ChromeOS for this emerging market.

Although we’ve been hearing bits and pieces about Android on Intel’s Moorestown platform over the last few months we’ve never really had it in writing from Intel. Today we have.

Almost hidden in the latter part of a Fact-Sheet (PDF)on the Moorestown / Z6xx launch today, Intel has this to say.

“As a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), Intel has worked with Google over the past few years and is providing support for the Android platform at launch. The performance characteristics of the Intel Atom processor Z6xx Series are reflected across Android implementations making it a compelling platform for a range of handheld devices.”

Support for Moblin/MeeGo is also mentioned. Windows isn’t.

This changes the game somewhat in my opinion.

Firstly, Intel now has a non-Windows platform. Politically, that’s huge. This is probably the first Intel computing platform since Windows launched, that doesn’t support Windows!

Secondly, Intel have just pulled in support for one of the most interesting and developed ‘smart’ computing platforms there is. There’s no longer any need to convince customers that MeeGo is going to be great because the trust will already be there. What a set of brands – Intel, Google, Android. You wonder what the long-term aim is for MeeGo now. How long will they continue with MeeGo if Android on Intel becomes successful.

Moorestown and Android could really be a killer combination and it already scales to netbook-like performance to enable some very interesting tablet, MID and ‘smart’ book devices. 1M iPads proves that this new market is ripe.

This could also explain why Google haven’t yet opened the marketplace for tablets and other large-format handheld devices.

Here’s a video we took of Android running on Moorestown recently.

Intel press release.