Mobile World Congress: NVIDIA for $99 Android Netbooks

The expansion of Google Inc.’s Android mobile operating system from smartphones to netbooks looks to be coming sooner than we thought: Graphics guru NVIDIA Corp. says it’s integrating Android into its Tegra system on a chip, to support multimedia-ready mobile Internet devices and netbooks. And, it announced a new platform at Mobile World Congress based on the Tegra 600 SoC that will make those MIDs and netbooks cheap—as in the range of $99.

The Androided Tegra will also have embedded 3G thanks to a partnership with Ericsson, and is expected to start shipping in the second half of the year—no word yet on whether NVIDIA has device manufacturer deals in place yet.

The chipmaker will work “within the Open Handset Alliance to continually strengthen the ability of Android to tap into advanced mobile graphics and media acceleration to make interaction with handheld technology more intuitive and instinctive,” Michael Rayfield, general manager for mobile business at NVIDIA, said in a statement.

NVIDIA isn’t the only one considering moving Android into platforms beyond smartphones; Qualcomm Inc. has announced its intention to get Android into netbooks by leveraging its Snapdragon chips.