It is reported by the website DigiTimes that Intel plans to temporarily discontinue development of the MeeGo OS due to a lack of enthusiasm for the platform from handset & tablet PC vendors, focusing instead on hardware products with its handset platforms to be paired with either Android or Windows Phone in 2012, according to industry sources.
In response, Intel said it does not comment on industry speculation or rumor. The company did say it remains committed to MeeGo and will continue to work with the community to develop and help meet the needs of customers and end users with open source.
The fact is that “IF” Intel withdrew their resources from MeeGo it would seriously hamper MeeGo development. It would not kill it but it would make the journey ahead for MeeGo a long and arduous one and take away any aspirations that it may of had of challenging iOS or Android. It is also worth noting that if Intel did stop MeeGo development it would most likely be “Permanent” opposed to temporary as companies rarely re-visit halted ideas.
At the moment these rumours seem like just that, rumours with no solid source being named. To quote a good friend of mine:
In a changing environment people assume the worst outcome as “news”. Dangerous mechanism 🙁 We will have to wait for a public announcement, no matter what.
And that is where we are. I would advise that we cancel our plans for the MeeGo Funeral and wait for an official announcement.
I will not say that there is no smoke without fire at the moment. Intel are certainly upto something as can be seen from their current pace of MeeGo related development, social networking presence and developer articles, but what is not clear is what this is all leading to.
Some say that it preempts an Intel exit whereas others are pointing to a shake up of the companies involved with MeeGo.
An Article featured in tekniikkatalous.fi points towards an announcement of big things with regards to MeeGo this fall. An outline of the Operating Systems direction and also who are standing behind it to take it to the next level. Nomovok CEO Pasi Nieminen believes that MeeGo may need re-branding “But it has a marginal impact, whatever name it is called it still come back to Linux”
MeeGo has been having some trouble with traction within the tablet and mobile areas but as we can see from Acer, Fujitsu, Samsung and Asus progress is being made.
Whatever happens, we will know soon enough …
Source Tekniikkatalous & Digitimes
