With Intel backing Android OS, Microsoft and Apple have a reason to worry about.
Android 2.2′s rollout to other devices should include both Intel hardware and the original Motorola Droid. Intel’s senior VP for software and services Renee James said Thursday that his company expects 2.2 to be the first readily available version of Android for x86 systems. The build should be made available to developers sometime in the summer, and APC understands it’s likely to occur in the next two months.
Google’s OS has been demonstrated on x86 before but has usually only been available on ARM processors more common to phones. An Intel version will open the door to netbooks and tablets using Atom processors, and possibly smartphones with the newer Atom Z600 chip when it becomes ready.
A separate leak later on Wednesday has also given away that the first-generation Motorola Droid should get Android 2.2 before the newer Droid X. What appears to be an internal memo indicates the first Droid should get 2.2 in late July where the Droid X won’t get its own patch until late August. DroidForums didn’t learn why, but the early Droid uses a virtually stock version of Android where the Droid X uses a slight amount of customization that would require extra testing.
