Intel To Enter Android Tablets?

Intel has been slightly late to enter the mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) market with chips from ARM dominating most of the products. However, sensing the change in consumer preferences from laptops, netbooks to mobile devices, Intel is reportedly developing a processor specifically for tablets.

Code-named Oak Trail, it will be an upgrade to Atom and would feature in tablets from the likes of Fujitsu, Acer, Lenovo, Cisco and Asus in Q3 2011. Intel is reportedly also helping manufactures build hype around the new chipsets by offering a rebate of $10 per unit.
Intel might not be the fist to enter Android tablets, but since it has a good relationship with Google, it might expect preferential treatment. Intel's Atom chipsets help run the set-top boxes of Google TV and even the Cr-48 laptops running on Google's Chrome OS.

However, its not that the new family of chips from Intel would be Android-exclusive. It would also cater to tablets running on Windows 7 and MeeGo operating systems. We saw some of the early protoypes earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Microsoft is not sitting back and is getting its Windows 7 OS to run with ARM processors instead. What this means for all of us as consumers is more competition, more innovation ultimately leading to better products.