iPhone Air hybrid in the works?

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Apple-related rumors always add spice to your day. As we all anticipate the 3G iPhone’s release any day now, we are seeing a steadily increasing spate of news, rumors and ‘leaks’. ZDnet.de reported this iPhone story recently –

“As part of an Intel event for the 40th birthday of the semiconductor company at Munich’s BMW World, Germany managing director Hannes Schwaderer confirmed today what has long been a rumor on the Internet: namely, that there is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version, Schwaderer said. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone.”

Apple 2.0 blog published an anatomy of this rumor, in which it points out that Intel specifically disclaimed the ZDnet report. Intel’s PR stresses that the Intel Germany CEO mentioned the iPhone of the future as an example of mobile internet devices (MIDs).

My take: It was mostly the case of an over-enthusiastic journalist picking up phrases out of context to present a sensationalistic news generator. But irrespective of the truth behind this story, Intel and Apple may well come together for a hybrid of the iPhone and the Air. It will be the sort of convergence device that will be a single stop shop for all your mobile communications and computing needs.

After all the frenzy and speculation around Apple’s acquisition of PA Semi, we now hear that Intel after all has a place in the Cupertino-based company’s immediate convergence plans. When Intel and Apple made a big deal about the packaging effort that went into miniaturizing Intel’s Core Duo 2 processor for Air, it sounded as if something ‘more mobile’ was brewing.

Intel’s Atom processor would be the obvious choice to take this relationship further and into the convergence space. Intel has been promoting the Atom processor along with the so-called Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs). The Apple device may be its best MID yet.

We all hope to see the 3G iPhone soon. Also watch out for this convergence device that will follow. It is now a question of when and not if this device will come out.

By the way, what should Apple call this device? iCon? Or is it iCom?

Posted by Vijay Nagarajan at 9:00 PM  

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