A match made in Silicon-Heaven?

Nokia and Intel recently announced a “long-term relationship” of mutual benefit which in the least stands to bring in a new wave of ultra-portable, mobile enabled, internet capable devices.

Yes indeed a match made in heaven! While Nokia had shown interest in the netbook arena some time ago, this “relationship” stands for much more, as in Intel's own terms, they plan to “develop a new class of Intel® Architecture-based mobile computing device and chipset architectures which will combine the performance of powerful computers with high-bandwidth mobile broadband communications and ubiquitous Internet connectivity”.

With a partnership like this the sky is the limit. Perhaps Intel's Moorestown devices could be the child of this relationship! Intel already has Atom, which is rather successful in some of the most compact computers available today and Intel's code-name Lincroft chipset is suggestive of even smaller devices with lower power requirements.

Mobile phones even today offer nothing close to the experience we get from a “proper” computer. Even the lowliest of Netbooks today can challenge perhaps the best of mobile phones, with an operating system like windows or Linux, you can get much further than what you possibly could in a mobile device. With this coming fusion though, we might as well see something which lie in between. Mobile phones, MIDs, or even portable media devices which offer close to as much power as an full computer. With Intel inside, even an idiot outside is bound to be much happier.

This unison transcends even the bonds of hardware, as Nokia and Intel have plans for collaboration around the open source spheres of Linux. The Intel supported Moblin platform which is optimized for use in ultra mobile computers with the Atom processor and Nokia's Maemo platform which runs its N810 Internet tablet are both based on Linux and they plan to foster better compatibility between these platforms for an even better mobile experience.

As said by Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager, Ultra Mobility Group, "This Intel and Nokia collaboration unites and focuses many of the brightest computing and communications minds in the world, and will ultimately deliver open and standards-based technologies, which history shows drive rapid innovation, adoption and consumer choice. With the convergence of the Internet and mobility as the team's only barrier, I can only imagine the innovation that will come out of our unique relationship with Nokia. The possibilities are endless."

Intel and Nokia have both showcased their rather bold visions of the future of portable devices, could this be a merger of their visions into something even more powerful? Or a collaboration which will bring their designs to a more grounded reality sooner?