Mobile OS space fragments further as AMD backs MeeGo

For a brief moment, it seemed that the mobile world was going to consolidate around three or four key operating systems, with each vendor selecting just one. That prospect is now remote, as a new breed of OS joins the market, and most major handset vendors rethink their software strategies for the next generation of their smartphones and internet gadgets.

So we see Intel rival AMD supporting MeeGo, the cloud oriented OS that Intel itself created with Nokia; and Sony Ericsson, fresh from dropping Symbian to focus its efforts on Android, reportedly opting for a second shot at Windows too.

MeeGo could soon see the odd situation of being supported by two key Intel competitors, AMD and Qualcomm - the penalty, as Google well knows, of creating a new platform while riding the open source wave. Qualcomm has expressed strong interest in the Linux-based OS, though it is likely to work more closely with Nokia than Intel - for now at least, the two vendors' strategies and release schedules remain separate, with Intel's mainly focused on netbooks. However, the activities of rival chipmakers could damage the key goal of using MeeGo as a differentiating software framework for Intel Atom.

AMD has joined the MeeGo open source project hosted by the Linux Foundation, and will provide engineering expertise intended to influence future releases and enhancements. "MeeGo represents an exciting, open source mobile operating system we expect to be adopted by mobile and embedded device makers over time," said AMD's corporate VP of software development, Ben Bar-Haim. "We expect that this operating system will help drive our embedded plans and create expanded market opportunities for our forthcoming Accelerated Processing Units."

AMD is currently a gold level member of the Linux Foundation and has a seat on The Linux Foundation's board of directors.

Meanwhile, Windows Phone 7 is being taken seriously by most OEMs, even those which had only flirted with Windows Mobile, like Sony Ericsson (SEMC), or had sidelined it as its relevance dwindled, like Motorola. SEMC has only offered one Windows handset to date, the Xperia X1, which only managed lackluster performance despite pioneering an innovative user interface now adapted for its more successful Android family, Xperia X10.

Now it seems a new handset in the range, the Xperia X7 and its cutdown sister X7 Mini, may run Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's much improved new OS. The X7, according to rumors, will run a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon, and have a SEMC's largest screen to date, at 4.3-inches (480 x 800 resolution), plus an 8.1-megapixel camera and HDMI video output. Surprisingly, leaks indicate the X7 Mini would have a more powerful camera, at 10.1-mp and rare 3x optical zoom, despite being otherwise lower spec'd, with a 1GHz single-core processor and 3.5-inch display. Both handsets are most likely to appear at SEMC's customary glitzy launch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.