FT Tech Hub

Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president of the Intel Architecture group, used a curious turn of phrase during his presentation at Computex on Tuesday when describing Intel’s role in the future world of computing.
Besides highlighting Intel’s traditional strengths in designing and manufacturing advanced processors, Mr Perlmutter (pictured) said Intel sought to be the “port of choice” for various operating environments.
This may not sound like a big deal, but to an entire Taiwan PC manufacturing industry that grew up around the close and exclusive alliance between Microsoft and Intel, it must have been a stark reminder of how much the industry landscape is changing.
Even just a few years ago it would have been all but unthinkable that a computer, if it wasn’t a Mac, would be anything other than a ‘Wintel‘ model. This certainty and simplicity facilitated the rise of big contract manufacturers like Quanta and Compal, who assembled computers for a variety of brands.
Now, however, Intel’s ‘port of choice’ strategy, and the fact that Mr Perlmutter demonstrated a few Android-on-Intel devices during his presentation, signals at least a willingness to work on both sides of the Google/Microsoft fight.
This may partly be an effort to push back against Arm’s advance onto mobile computing devices like netbooks and tablets – Acer ported Android onto a netbook running Intel’s x86 architecture at last year’s Computex, but most other device makers simply went with an Arm-Android combination instead.
However, it may equally be because of Meego, the joint Intel/Nokia operating system that would compete with both Android and Windows. Mr Perlmutter had even invited Gianfranco Lanci, Acer chief executive, on stage to confirm that the world’s second biggest PC company will launch Meego-based netbook and tablet products by the end of this year or early next year.
Whatever the reasons, it’s pretty clear that the Windows-Intel alliance is no longer quite what it used to be.