Three for the price of one
We usually try to limit our speculative reporting to inferences drawn from concrete statements, but this rumour is so juicy we just had to share it with you.
An apparently respected Finnish tech site - Processori - has reported that it has heard Nokia will be launching the N9 smartphone at MWC. That alone is no big deal, but the Finns reckon it will not only be the first phone to run the MeeGo OS, but it will also be the first commercially available phone to run on an Intel chip.
Of course it was at last year's MWC that Nokia and Intel announced they were combining their respective mobile OS efforts to develop MeeGo. With Intel desperate to get its chips into mobile devices and Nokia's current smartphone OS - Symbian - proving an Achilles Heel, MeeGo is of critical importance to both companies in this market.
Also at MWC last year we spoke to Intel about its Moorestown chip - designed for mobile devices - and there was much bullish talk. But in the intervening time, despite the odd spasm of PR activity, there has been little to say about either MeeGo, or Moorestown, or indeed its successor Medfield.
So if this is true it would combine three major launches into one: a new Nokia smartphone, a major new mobile OS, and Intel's formal entry into the smartphone market. If it's true.
While we're at it, we've seen reported that Nokia has cancelled the launch of an X7 smartphone in the US, that it may still be some months before we see the E7 in the UK, and that Apple has filed another patent-related lawsuit against Nokia in the UK. Never a dull moment for the Finnish phone giant.