Intel demos MeeGo 'tablet user experience'

Goal: 'irrelevancy'

MWC 2011 Intel has released a video demonstrating the MeeGo mobile operating system on a tablet PC, mere days after Nokia pulled the rug out from under their MeeGo partnership with Intel by embracing Windows Phone for their faltering handset line.

As part of its marketing onslaught at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company also published an Intel Tablet User Experience white paper (PDF).

"Our MeeGo tablet user experience shows the power and flexibility of MeeGo," said Intel Software and Services Group general manager Renée James in a prepared statement, "and by adding new developer tools and programs we will accelerate our tablet strategy and MeeGo ecosystem momentum to enable faster time-to-market with innovative products for OEMs and service providers alike."

You can see the video here:

As Intel spokeswoman Suzy Ramirez told The Reg after Nokia ran off with Microsoft: "While we are disappointed with Nokia's decision, Intel remains committed to MeeGo." And that commitment is on view in Barcelona, along with software development tools and quintet of MeeGo developer programs, all available through Intel's AppUp Center.

In a separate pure-promo video, MeeGo user experience design manager Darren Wilson takes a none-too-subtle poke at Apple's iPad operating system, iOS, saying that his team isn't merely "taking a handset UI and scaling it up to a tablet."

He then broadened his target area: "A lot of other operating systems have got a lot of legacy, and they don't have the opportunity to push the boundries as we do."

Wilson strives for a "world where the operating systems become irrelevant". He, however, is a design engineer, and as such has the luxury of visualizing an ideal future.

Intel's James, however, speaks more pragmatically. "Intel supports all major operating system environments," she said, "working closely with developers, service providers and manufacturers around the world to deliver premium, cross platfrom experiences."

MeeGo is just one of those environments, and as prettily as it demos, whether or not it will ever claim the mantle of "major operating system" remains to be seen. And despite the support shown for it by Intel in Barcelona, that future was not helped by Nokia's defection. ®