NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Intel Corp.’s (INTC) chief executive said the chip giant remains committed to its MeeGo operating system and doesn’t believe ARM Holdings PLC (ARMH) will be competing in servers anytime soon.
Intel partner Nokia Corp. (NOK) said last week that it was shifting strategy to adopt Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) Windows Phone as its main smartphone platform rather than MeeGo–something Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini characterized as a financial decision on the part of Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop.
“Between Microsoft and Google [Inc. (GOOG)], he was getting incredible offers [of] money,” Otellini said at an investor conference in London.
But Otellini said he wouldn’t have made the same decision to sell himself to the highest bidder and if not staying with MeeGo, would have gone with Google’s operating system.
“I probably would have gone to Android if I were him,” he said. “MeeGo would have been the best strategy for him, but he concluded he couldn’t afford it.”
He added the problem for phone makers is finding a way to differentiate themselves.
“It’s going to be hard to do that on Windows,” Otellini said. “It’s less hard to do on Android. On MeeGo, he could have done it. We’ll find other partners.”
MeeGo was formed last year as a combination of Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin platforms, and was expected to be used in Nokia’s high-end smartphones and other devices such as tablets and TV sets. At times, MeeGo appeared as a contender as companies jostle to create the third major marketplace for smartphone applications after those created by Apple Inc. (AAPL) for the iPhone and Google for its Android operating system.
Last week, however, Nokia said it believes Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 will become the primary alternative to those market leaders. The cellphone giant also indicated Windows 7 would be a greater focus of technology development than its venerable Symbian operating system.
Intel has struggled in the mobile arena, with its chips viewed as too power hungry. While it has garnered some tablet design wins, the company has yet to have a chip designed into a smartphone on the market.
Otellini said that while Intel doesn’t have a smartphone announcement yet, there will be a device “from a premier vendor in the marketplace this year.” He expects Intel chips to “ramp up significantly on all the major phone” operating systems over the next several years and take share from rivals.
And one advantage Intel has over the ARM companies, he said, is the consistency of its architecture. Each ARM licensee uses the cores differently, and the instruction sets are different, he said.
“This is a big, expensive, hard job to create consistency in your architectures over multiple generations,” Otellini said. “That’s what we do exceptionally well.”
Meanwhile, Otellini said the PC market will continue growing, even with the rising popularity of tablets.
And he isn’t worried about competition in the server market from ARM-based chips despite plans from companies like Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) to expand into traditional computing and servers using ARM processors.
“I don’t see [ARM chips] being a factor in servers anytime soon, if ever,” Otellini said.
He said ARM developers don’t have the software capability, compute architecture and transistor performance to compete.
“It’s not going to happen,” Otellini said. “[Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)] is much more potent as a server competitor than the ARM guys ever will be.”
Intel shares ended regular trading up 1% to $21.97. They are up 6.3% over the past 12 months.
-By Shara Tibken, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2189; shara.tibken@dowjones.com
ng in servers anytime soon. Intel partner Nokia Corp. (NOK) said last week that it was shifting strategy to adopt Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) Windows Phone as its main smartphone platform rather than MeeGo–something Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini characterized as a financial decision on the part of Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop. “Between Microsoft and Google [Inc. (GOOG)], he was getting incredible offers [of] money,” Otellini said at an investor conference in London. But Otellini said he wouldn’t have made the same decision to sell himself to the highest bidder and if not staying with MeeGo, would have gone with Google’s operating system. “I probably would have gone to Android if I were him,” he said. “MeeGo would have been the best strategy for him, but he concluded he couldn’t afford it.” He added the problem for phone makers is finding a way to differentiate themselves. “It’s going to be hard to do that on Windows,” Otellini said. “It’s less hard to do on Android. On MeeGo, he could have done it. We’ll find other partners.” MeeGo was formed last year as a combination of Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin platforms, and was expected to be used in Nokia’s high-end smartphones and other devices such as tablets and TV sets. At times, MeeGo appeared as a contender as companies jostle to create the third major marketplace for smartphone applications after those created by Apple Inc. (AAPL) for the iPhone and Google for its Android operating system. Last week, however, Nokia said it believes Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 will become the primary alternative to those market leaders. The cellphone giant also indicated Windows 7 would be a greater focus of technology development than its venerable Symbian operating system. Intel has struggled in the mobile arena, with its chips viewed as too power hungry. While it has garnered some tablet design wins, the company has yet to have a chip designed into a smartphone on the market. Otellini said that while Intel doesn’t have a smartphone announcement yet, there will be a device “from a premier vendor in the marketplace this year.” He expects Intel chips to “ramp up significantly on all the major phone” operating systems over the next several years and take share from rivals. And one advantage Intel has over the ARM companies, he said, is the consistency of its architecture. Each ARM licensee uses the cores differently, and the instruction sets are different, he said. “This is a big, expensive, hard job to create consistency in your architectures over multiple generations,” Otellini said. “That’s what we do exceptionally well.” Meanwhile, Otellini said the PC market will continue growing, even with the rising popularity of tablets. And he isn’t worried about competition in the server market from ARM-based chips despite plans from companies like Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) to expand into traditional computing and servers using ARM processors. “I don’t see [ARM chips] being a factor in servers anytime soon, if ever,” Otellini said. He said ARM developers don’t have the software capability, compute architecture and transistor performance to compete. “It’s not going to happen,” Otellini said. “[Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)] is much more potent as a server competitor than the ARM guys ever will be.” Intel shares ended regular trading up 1% to $21.97. They are up 6.3% over the past 12 months. -By Shara Tibken, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2189; shara.tibken@dowjones.com
