Intel Atom Atomizes the News
It seems that Intel's forthcoming, low-power Atom processor is popping up all over the news lately. First we got wind of Gigabyte's portable Atom device a few weeks ago--what we thought was an ultraportable named the M912 is really a MID (Mobile Internet Device) called the M528. Now we're hearing about another Atom-based device seen in the wild: the Fujitsu LifeBook U2010 UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC). Also yesterday, rumor of an Atom-powered Asus Eee PC surfaced to counter the rumor from the day before about an Atom-based competitor to the Eee PC from MSI.
If that's not enough for you, yesterday, CNET Germany reported that a German Intel executive "confirmed that Apple plans to use Intel's Atom processor in a future iPhone." Fast forward to today and Intel denies that there are any plans to use Atom processors in future iPhone designs:
"Intel is denying its MD's quotes in yesterday's ZDnet report on future versions of Apple's iPhone. Hannes Schwaderer, who leads Intel's operations in Germany, points out he had only made general remarks on possible Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) that were not explicitly aimed at the iPhone. He merely mentioned Apple's smartphone in this context as one typical example of a small device that lets user connect to the Internet. 'Intel does not know about future products of third party manufacturers and cannot comment on those,' Intel spokesman Mike Cato told ZDnet.de."
Phew! In the coming days expect the onslaught of Atom news and leaks to increase dramatically as the launch of Atom-based products draws near--only a few weeks away in June.
