A YouTube video purportedly from Intel indicates that the Intel Atom processor is expected to be running the Google Android Gingerbread mobile operating system by January.
However, the timing of Google Android Gingerbread on the Intel Atom E6xx series processors is unusual because Google is expected to release its Ice Cream Sandwich operating system this fall.
In the YouTube video, Intel refers to the Atom E6xx processor as the "Port of Choice" for the wide range of software with which it is compatible, including various versions of Windows and Linux software, Fedora, Meego, and Android.
In the final slide of the animated slideshow, Intel writes, "Coming Soon: Android* (Gingerbread) on the Intel Atom Processor E6xx in January 2012."
Such a release date would make it a latecomer to the Android Gingerbread operating system because Google is planning to release the next version of its operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, this Fall, according to ARS Technica.
Google is currently in the process of rolling out Gingerbread, its name for the Android Honeycomb 3.1 mobile operating system. Google currently uses the Atom processor in its Google TV technology.
Ice Cream Sandwich is expected to be released into Open Source this fall, a move that Google has yet to do with its Honeycomb operating system.
Intel has been exploring ways to boost its Atom processor business in the wake of a significant downturn in the netbook PC industry. The Atom is Intel's primary processor for netbooks. The company in July said its second quarter Atom processor sales were down 15 percent compared to the previous year.
Intel did not respond to a request for more information by press time.
