Intel kept in the dark over Nokia's MeeGo plans; operators reject first device
Prior to the public announcement on Friday, Intel was kept in the dark with regards to Nokia's plans to relegate MeeGo to a glorified R&D project, sources with knowledge of the situation tell TechCrunch Europe.
Context & Ripple Effects
MeeGo was the flagship of Intel's mobile-OS push, built on the Moblin netbook OS it had been stumping since 2009 and co-developed with Nokia after the two companies merged their Linux efforts. The project was already wobbling before this week: Nokia's MeeGo device chief quit back in October 2010, and by early February sources told Reuters Nokia had dropped its first MeeGo phone before launch.
What changed on Friday is the shape of the exit. The Microsoft tie-up that had been the subject of speculation since December — when observers noted Nokia and Microsoft were 'not sitting in a tree' — is now real enough that a first Nokia Windows Phone 7 device image has surfaced. And per TechCrunch Europe's sources, Nokia downgraded MeeGo to an R&D project without giving Intel a heads-up, while carriers had already passed on the doomed handset. If accurate, the deepest alliance in Intel's smartphone strategy was wound down behind its back.
First-order effects
- Intel loses its anchor OEM for a mobile Linux OS it co-founded, leaving MeeGo's handset ambitions with no committed hardware partner and Intel's smartphone silicon strategy suddenly unmoored.
- Operators' rejection of Nokia's first MeeGo device removes any near-term carrier channel for the platform, confirming the R&D relegation rather than merely preceding it.
Second-order effects
- Nokia's full commitment to Windows Phone 7 puts Microsoft's platform in the hands of the world's largest smartphone vendor by volume, forcing every other OS camp — Android licensees included — to reprice what they offer Nokia-scale partners.
- Intel must either recruit replacement device makers for its Linux mobile stack or cede the smartphone-OS ground entirely while rivals with integrated silicon-and-software stories press the advantage.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, multi-vendor open-source OS coalitions without a dominant commercial sponsor get structurally squeezed between Apple's integrated stack, Google's Android, and now Microsoft-with-Nokia — leaving carrier gatekeepers with fewer platforms to play against each other.
The trend: Smartphone operating systems are consolidating around three commercially anchored platforms, starving sponsor-less Linux alliances like MeeGo of the hardware commitment and carrier support they need to survive.