Intel and LG move into mobile internet

Intel and phone manufacturer LG Electronics are partnering to make mobile internet devices (MIDs) having announced the partnership at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. Smaller than netbooks and lacking a full-size keyboard, MIDs are more similar to a phone than a computer.

LG plans to make MIDs that combine the features of currently available devices in the class with those of high-end smartphones. The devices will use a new model of Intel’s Atom-class processors, code named -Moorehouse, and run Linux Moblin. Users will be able to make internet phone calls, although they will have to sign up for wireless internet provision if they want to do so outside WiFi hotspots.

LG is working with mobile network provider Ericsson to connect the devices to the 3G network. LG already uses the company’s broadband modules in some of its notebooks and netbooks. Intel sees the MID market as a possible growth area in the contracting economy. The company has struggled to crack the mobile phone processor market, despite its processors running in more than 80% of the world’s PCs.