Intel has started a new joint innovation lab with the Chinas largest search engine Baidu.
They will focus on mobile Internet software development utilising Intel-powered products, including PCs, tablets and mobile devices, to test and port software for Baidu and Intel platforms.
“If you are a developer, you will now have more choices of platform, and more opportunities in business,” said Christos Georgiopoulos, Intel general manager for developer relations.
Intel also wants in on the huge Chinese mobile market which is ever expanding. With the new Clover Trail+ processors currently powering Lenovos K900 smartphone and the upcoming ZTE eek phone Intels plans are slowly coming to fruition.
To help Chinese developers design cutting-edge software, Intel will also make available software tools to them. The company hopes this will help pave the way for Chinese apps designed with voice-command features, along with facial-recognition, Georgiopoulos said.
Baidu and Intel intend to keep the partnership limited to software and hardware integration, and will not include joint smartphone development, said Li Ming Yuan, Baidu general manager for mobile and cloud. In 2011, the Chinese search giant launched its own Android-based mobile platform, now called Baidu Cloud, which came loaded with integrated company services. The platform has yet to be widely adopted in China, and only comes pre-installed on six smartphone models.
With the partnership, Baidu wants developers to design mobile apps around its search and mapping products. The company is aiming to become a destination for mobile services, and last year said it would invest more than US$1.6 billion to build a new cloud computing center.
Source PCWorld
