Intel tries to make Meego a contender
Intel's message at its Intel Developer Forum this week came down to one word -- tablets.
Apple is taking the market by default. Microsoft isn't in the game. So Intel trotted out tablets based on Meego, an operating system it midwifed early this year with Nokia and placed under the Linux Foundation.
Almost as if on cue one such tablet, the WeTab, drew a strong review from GeekWithLaptop.
What could be wrong with this picture?
- The WeTab will only be available in Germany for now.
- The listed price is almost 30% higher than that of the iPad, once Euros are converted into dollars.
- While the Meego folk were over the moon from their reception, the site features versions of the software for handsets, netbooks, in-car PCs, but not tablets.
This is sort of how Intel rolls, which is why it has previously found success mainly through strong software partners like Microsoft. Intel wants to sell chips, and hardware with the latest styles, but either it doesn't communicate this well with software partners or it doesn't care about real-life use.
The Intel tablet boomlet is meant to sell the Atom chip, previously designed for netbooks. Only no one wants netbooks any more, they want tablets. Most of the tablets on display in San Francisco featured 1.6 GHz. Atoms.
But here's my problem.
When people go into a store to buy gear, they don't buy Atoms. They buy hardware, preferably with software that features hundreds or thousands of ready-to-buy applications.
How are Christmas geeks going to feel when they hit their stores looking for tablets like those Intel is featuring and find either iPads on back-order or stuff that doesn't run anything, running an operating system that isn't focused on tablets?
What I'm afraid they're going to think is Linux FAIL. When it's not. If anything it's Intel FAIL.
Feel free to disagree.