San Francisco — US computer chip behemoth Intel and Finland’s Nokia, the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturer, said Tuesday that they are developing a first joint research center that will focus on developing 3D interfaces and virtual reality experiences for use on mobile devices.
Intel, whose processors power nearly 80 percent of computers worldwide, said in a statement the center would “hire about two dozen research and development professionals.”
The lab, situated at the University of Oulu in Finland, which said the lab’s research activities had “started gradually in August,” will employ about two dozen research and development professionals and will be part of Intel’s European research network, known as Intel Labs Europe.
The software will be created by about 24 engineers in Oulu employing the open-source MeeGo operating system, which was introduced in February by Intel and Nokia. An early version of the MeeGo mobile phone OS went to developers in late June. The companies said in a conference call that they envisioned 3D and virtual reality software running on a broad range of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets.
One prospective area of research is technologies that would allow mobile phones to display 3D holograms of the person with whom you are talking. At this point, this is still something only seen in science fiction movies, Intel said, but if developed, it could help users feel more involved and engaged with the mobile experience.
“3D technology could change the way we use our mobile devices and make our experiences with them much more impressive,” Rich Green, senior vice president and chief technical officer at Nokia, said in a statement. “Our new joint laboratory with Intel draws on the Oulu research community’s 3D interface expertise, and over time will lay down some important foundations for future mobile experiences.”
Developing social networks within virtual worlds for mobile devices combined with GPS and other location information “will be a killer app or at least very successful,” said Heikki Huomo, director of the university’s Center for Internet Excellence. “Consumers will feel more involved and occupied with these technologies.”
Martin Curley, director of Intel Labs in Europe, said the focus of the research center will be on building open-source software that complements Intel’s chips. He also did not rule out the possibility that the software could give rise to new Nokia devices on future Intel chip architectures.
Nokia has been competing in the smartphone section, loosing market share to Apple’s iPhone, and presenting a quarterly net profit down 40 percent in July. It is set to launch its already delayed Symbian 3 platform by the end of the year.