Intel may ditch MeeGo operating system business

2 Sep 2011

Intel may be planning to temporarily discontinue its development of the MeeGo OS because the platform has failed to be widely adopted by smartphone and tablet manufacturers.

According to Asian tech manufacturing site DigiTimes, there are rumours Intel plans to instead focus on hardware that is paried with either Android or Windows Phone devices.

However, Intel would not comment on the rumours and is understood to have said that it remains committed MeeGo and will work with the MeeGo community to meet the needs of customers.

MeeGo was initiated by Intel and Nokia in March 2010 and a joint innovation was established.

But the alliance between Nokia and Microsoft has forced Nokia to shift resources to develop Windows Phone 7 devices, ultimately eroding the success of the MeeGo innovation centre.

Another key factor is none of the major smartphone and tablet manufacturers have adopted the OS.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com