AMD says it will not support Google Android

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 01/12/2013 10:53 AM | source: | 32 comment(s)

AMD needs to set priorities and it seems that Android is not one of them. AMD executive Lisa Su told InfoWorld that the company is betting heavily on Windows 8 as it tries to make an entry in the tablet market. AMD has no plan to support Android, despite Google's OS being the most-widely used operating system in this market, if you exclude Apple's iPad.

Su says the upcoming Temash APU is anticipated to ship in Windows 8 tablets with pricing around $499 to $599.
"We're betting heavily on Windows 8," Su said.

Windows 8 may be off to a slow start, but will catch on in the future, Su said. Windows 8 tablets in many different screen sizes and features will be released in the future, and AMD is interested in higher-end tablets that can run full applications and graphics, Su said.

The company is also not interested in enabling Android tablets at the moment, Su said.

Many popular low-cost tablets such as Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD, both of which are priced at $199, run on the Android OS. Tablets running Windows RT and Windows 8 largely start at around $499.

Via dvhardware via infoworld

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sykozis

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Joined: 2008-07-14

#4499308 Posted on: 01/12/2013 11:31 PM

I also agree with the direction AMD is taking, but for a different reason.

AMD probably don't have the resources to invest in an ARM architecture outside their x86 line, unlike nVidia that already have Tegra.
The "We're betting heavily on Windows 8," is also just another way of saying "We have no other viable option that doesn't require more funds being shifted from other departments to R&D.".
So at the moment, Windows 8 is their only safe bet, along with the availability of the RT version should they decide to delve into ARM.

Going straight to Android won't help them in any way, at least not in the short term.
Even though supporting Android is (probably) good for the long term, they do need extra revenues from elsewhere first in order to do so.
A bit of catch-22 thing, IMO.

AMD has an ARM license, as well as prior history with RISC architectures. AMD is also, supposedly, working with ARM to develop a processor.

Denial
Senior Member

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#4499335 Posted on: 01/13/2013 12:11 AM

AMD has an ARM license, as well as prior history with RISC architectures. AMD is also, supposedly, working with ARM to develop a processor.

AMD has an ARM processor license but not a ARM arch license. They can only use ARM designs and not develop their own.

deltatux
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Joined: 2009-01-25

#4499343 Posted on: 01/13/2013 12:19 AM

Denial
Senior Member

Posts: 14048
Joined: 2004-05-16

#4499345 Posted on: 01/13/2013 12:27 AM

Although AMD won't officially support Android, Android will make itself supported on AMD processors. The beauty of open source is that if it isn't supported yet, make it supported. It's not like Android can't run on x86 devices *cough* Atom *cough*.

Bad decision, but won't really stop anyone to port Android over.

deltatux

I don't think the issue is going to be support it's going to be power/performance requirements. That's what people are concerned about.

I mean, lets face it, despite what the majority of Guru3D thinks, the future is mobile technology. You're going to have a phone, you're going to set it on your desk and it's going to automagically stream sound and video to your 27" monitor and pick up both your wireless mouse and keyboard.

Now in order to have that type of device your processor has to be operating at ~1w. If AMD is not focusing on this, then they aren't ever going hit it. And consequently you'll never see them in those devices.

Stukov
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#4499370 Posted on: 01/13/2013 12:56 AM

The reason Intel hasn't been successful in getting into mobile (tablet/phones) is because they are very low margin devices and Intel COULD make a pretty rad chip for it, but doing so cannibalizes its other PC chip sales which have higher margins.

As someone else said, AMD doesn't have an ARM license except to use a tiny part of their encryption/secure technology which is mainly for secure computing in the server/enterprise sector.

This isn't about AMD failing to go after Android, it simply is being misconstrued that the truth is they aren't currently planning (or announcing) using ARM over x86. They already have low end stuff announced (shown at CEbit) for tablets.

This announcement should be read as "We had a meeting with Intel and we both agree its in our financial interest to keep using x86, and we don't have the financial resources to start another ARM project anyways. We will work to scale down our technology to low end devices rather than start new with ARM."

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