Intel will hit MeeGo with an iron fist on the iPad next year

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Many different kinds of “killers” of the iPad have already been announced, but real products are still with a gulkin’s nose and, frankly, they cannot seriously compete with the Apple tablet. Although I will not prevaricate and say that competitors will continue to crawl and crawl to the achievements of the Cupertino team. This is not true. The problem is that there is no real and worthy alternative to the tablet version of iOS yet. What we have now is Android 2.2 is a pathetic parody of such a product, adapted for smartphones, but not for devices with a display of 7 inches or more. A perfect example of this is the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Samsung has done a good job adapting the OS for its gadget, but this is clearly not enough. Google itself admitted that while Android is not ready for tablets, we are waiting Android 3.0. The second interesting competitor is RIM PlayBook. OS developed for it QNX and this inspires confidence, but the gadget itself is not yet on sale, again we are waiting for 2011. Suddenly, another serious alternative appeared on the horizon in the face of MeeGo. Or rather, not quite like that – it was “drawn” a long time ago, but no one showed the real products, and did not name the exact dates. The situation was corrected by the CEO of division of Intel on researches and developments in Russia Kamil Isaev.

He demonstrated to the press a prototype of a tablet based on the operating system being developed in the depths of Intel. MeeGo. Actually, there was nothing special to see. Judging by the dimensions, this is a device with a 10-inch LCD display, on the screen of which there was a MeeGo desktop or just a splash screen, it’s hard to say. In this case, the important fact is that, judging by the words of Isaev, the company has already advanced far in the development of the OS itself and the reference design of the tablet. Intel itself will not release it, it will offer a ready-made scheme to partners and, of course, its components, in fact, for the sake of selling hardware, it started all this fuss. As early as next year, “very soon,” as an Intel representative noted, the first MeeGo-based devices will go on sale.

Putting the tablet aside, Isaev used Steve Jobs’ presentation technique known as “One more thing.” He took out from his pocket, no, not wide trousers, but a smartphone running MeeGo. Doesn’t it remind you of anything? Yes, yes, the situation is the same as with iOS: there is a version for phones, there is for tablets. That’s just the phone version of MeeGo is still far from complete, in comparison with the tablet. Isaev assumes that such devices will enter the market not earlier than in a year.

What do we end up with? Another mobile platform whose roots are still growing from *NIX systems (Android and iOS from the same fraternity). Why is she interesting? Firstly, two giants of the industry are working on the project: Nokia and Intel. The first plans to produce top-end smartphones on its basis, the second – tablets (or components for them). A nice interface and good functionality is expected. Check out the video above – this is the panel interface in MeeGo pre-tablet alpha. This article was published almost half a year ago. The idea is interesting and in half a year it was possible to come up with and implement a lot of other things – there are resources for this. And there is still at least half a year of development ahead, we are waiting for a worthy competitor. But the issue of third-party support is also important. There is no additional software, and there is no audience of users. He decides too. The developer version of MeeGo has been available since May of this year. They have plenty of time to learn the platform and build apps for it. In addition, Nokia plans to attach its own cross-platform SDK to it – Qt – this is also a plus.