Will Nokia and Intel strategic relationship bring further certainty to the mobile Internet?

Yesterday’s announcement of a strategic relationship between Nokia and Intel has the potential to be the “shot in the arm” that the mobile Internet has been waiting for.  Unto themselves the two companies have undeniably, but not without trials and tribulations, mastered their respective markets.  The underlying question however, is whether or not the relationship will prove beneficial to the broader mobile Internet ecosystem.

Nokia’s EVP of Devices, Kai Öistämö stated, “We will explore new ideas in designs, materials and displays that will go far beyond devices and services on the market today. This collaboration will be compelling not only for our companies, but also for our industries, our partners and, of course, for consumers.” The partners announced that they will be collaborating to produce as a new class of mobile computing device that will be based upon Intel’s chipset architectures.

No stranger to the needs of mobile devices, Nokia has an enviable reputation of being able to create designs and crank out products that both operators and users alike endorse.  Intel on the other hand, hasn’t enjoyed that same reputation in the mobile device space.  Powerful in a desktop or laptop form factor, Intel’s processors and chipsets have frequently been labeled as power hungry, something that doesn’t mix well with mobile Internet devices (MIDs).

Initially the relationship will see Nokia and Intel collaborate on R&D necessary to create the chipset architecture, using Intel devices, that will eventually be integrated into a new device; described by Nokia as being a “user-friendly pocketable form factor.”  Intel’s Anand Chandrasekher, SVP and General Manager, Ultra Mobility Group declined to provide further details of what a pocketable form factor product might look like and when it might be delivered.

The relationship is also good news for open-source advocates.  There will be a number of open source software projects established for Mobilin, centric on Intel’s Atom processor, and Maemo Linux based platforms.  Mobile Internet application developers will no doubt be pleased with the announcement.

Nokia’s existing strategy for ARM-powered devices won’t be disrupted by the relationship.  So does that then imply that the “new device” being proposed will look less like a smartphone and more like a netbook, perhaps like Nokia’s N810?  While there is still a great deal of uncertainty about what a product might look like, what seems more certain is that the benefits of the relationship for the entire mobile Internet ecosystem will only be greater.