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For the moment, Android is popular on smartphones running ARM-based chips. A few tablets are starting to appear with Android as an OS, but expect that to grow significantly now due to the work of Intel.
The chip-giant has been working to port Android so that it runs with x86 processors. What that means is we could, and will, soon see Intel Atom netbooks running Android as an OS instead of Windows or a Linux distro.
Work is so far along that Intel is happy to say we will see a netbook running Android and Atom before the end of the summer. Renee James, Intel’s senior VP for software and services, said:
Our expectation is that (native x86 Android) will be based on the Froyo release and will be available this summer to developers.
So not only will Android be available on Intel hardware, but it will be the latest 2.2 Froyo release. Although only promising a developer build, that should pave the way for consumer netbooks before the end of the year, and smartphones after that.
