Ever since Lenovo and Intel took the wraps off the Lenovo K800 at CES, we've been impatiently awaiting the arrival of the first Medfield-powered phone. Late last week, word got out that the device would launch in May. Intel's Sean Maloney announced the news via Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging site, but failed to provide any further information on pricing or a specific date. Still, rumors had the phone launching towards the end of May, so we knew it could be weeks before we learned anything more.
However, this week, Intel CEO Paul Otellini let slip that the company would see the launch of its first smartphone well before the end of May. ZDNet reports that during an earnings call, Otellini revealed that the world's first Medfield phone would launch this week.
We expect to see another important milestone for our business later this week. The launch of the world’s first Intel architecture based smartphone.
Of course, it's possible that Otellini is talking about another phone entirely, but we can't imagine the company would unveil Lenovo's K800 on stage at CES only to have another phone slip out the gate ahead of Lenovo when it came to getting Medfield to market. Either way, we'll find out what's going on in the next two days, so stay tuned.
For those not in the know, the K800 packs the low-power Intel Atom Z2460 with Hyper-Threading Technology and support for HSPA+, as well as a 4.5-inch 720p display and Android 4.0 with Lenovo's LeOS on top. Intel has not provided details on an international launch for the K800. Any details or rumors regarding launch have so far been for the Chinese market. The Orange Santa Clara is expected to be Europe's first Medfield phone and is scheduled for launch this coming summer.
