During an analyst meeting this week, Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini said his company was looking for other MeeGo partners in light of Nokia’s Microsoft deal. He further accused the phone maker of dropping the co-developed OS in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 after being offered “incredible” amounts of money per Reuters. Both Google and Microsoft offered Nokia money to adopt their OS, the Intel chief claimed.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop was further criticized by Intel’s chief as having made a mistake by going with WP7 instead of Android. “I wouldn’t have made the decision he made, I would probably have gone to Android if I were him,” Otellini said. “MeeGo would have been the best strategy but [Elop] concluded he couldn’t afford it.”
Otellini also believed it will be hard for Nokia to stand out using Windows Phone 7, and it’d be easier do so with Android. Microsoft granted Nokia special license to customize WP7, however, where HTC and others still have to cling to the core Microsoft interface.
The Intel chief remained confident about replacing Nokia matching recent statements from provider Orange that providers favor an open mobile ecosystem such as MeeGo’s.
MeeGo was the product of merging Intel’s Linux-based Maemo and Moblin operating systems
