Oracle (ORCL) Latest to Abandon Intel's (INTC) Itanium

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) announced today it will no longer work on software development on Intel Corp.'s (NASDAQ:INTC) Itanium microprocessor.

According to Oracle, after numerous conversations with Intel senior management, they felt Intel's strategic focus "is on their x86 microprocessor and that Itanium was nearing the end of its life."

Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel, refuted those conclusions, saying in a press release, “Intel’s work on Intel Itanium processors and platforms continues unabated with multiple generations of chips currently in development and on schedule. We remain firmly committed to delivering a competitive, multi-generational roadmap for HP-UX and other operating system customers that run the Itanium architecture.”

Oracle pointed out that RedHat and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have both stopped developing software for Itanium as well. The company also noted that Leo Apotheker, chief executive officer of Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ), "made no mention of Itanium in his long and detailed presentation on the future strategic direction of HP."

Oracle was trading at $31.55, gaining $0.42, or 1.37 percent, as of 1:52 PM EDT. Intel was trading at $20.23, up $0.08, or 0.42 percent.

Who Will Intel (INTC) Partner with on MeeGo After Nokia (NOK) Defection?

Now that MeeGo is dead for Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) as far as Nokia (NYSE:NOK) goes, the question is who will they find to replace them, now that Intel CEO Paul Otellini has gone on record as saying they will search for a new partner for the smartphone platform.

With the No.1 phone manufacturer Nokia gone, the next in line would be Samsung, the No. 2 phone manufacturer. They already have their own open source platform called Bada, so couldn't be in the running.

RIM (RIMM) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have their own platforms and aren't interesting in branching out, and most of the rest are going with Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android as their smartphone platform of choice.

While there are a few potential candidates out there, why would they risk going with the rejected MeeGo when the line in the platform battle appear to have already been drawn.

Why would any company wanting to compete in the smartphone market choose a tiny ecosystem versus an already-established giant one?

Intel is in for a tough sell. And even if they find a partner, it's dubious as to what they could add to Intel, as they would almost assuredly be a very small player in the market.

Intel Adds $10 Billion to Stock Repurchase Plan, Increases Dividend

With a move made to communicate their confidence in the near- and long-term outlook for the company, Intel boosted their dividend 15 percent, along with increasing their share repurchase goal by $10 billion.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini, said "today's (Monday) announcement signals confidence in our fundamental business strategies both today and looking forward, allowing us to return more cash to shareholders."

Shareholders of record on February 7, 2011 will receive a dividend payable on March 1, 2011.

The dividend increase bring it to 72.48 cents a share on an annualized basis.

Concerning the share buyback, Intel boosted it from $4.2 billion to a hefty $14.2 billion, a $10 billion upwardly revised move.

Intel closed Monday at $21.24, up $0.42, or 2.02 percent.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Ready to Implement Tablet Strategy

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) is finally mounting a challenge in the tablet space, and they're ready to enter it in a big way in 2011, as they've reportedly signed agreements with 35 tablet makers to put their chips in them.

Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini said that even though Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a big lead at this time, he expects to overtake them and be the No. 1 company in the space.

Companies Intel has made agreements with include Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell (Nasdaq:DELL).

Analysts see a long road to climb in the mobile processor segment for Intel because they're so late to the game.

Tablets with Intel chips in them will be available sometime in the first half of 2011.

Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) Tablet Market Growing, Notebooks More Important

Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) noted the growth of the tablet market in 2011 for their Atom processor, with over 35 tablets being identified as committed to using the Intel chip.

Even with that growth though, Intel CEO Paul Otellini reminded attendants at Barclays Capital Global Technology Conference that notebooks are still far more important to the company than tablets.

Using the sales of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) as a backdrop, Otellini contrasted the 4 million iPads sold in the last quarter against the million notebooks sold on a daily basis.

He said, "I think it's easy to forget about how important laptops are to people's lives."

Much of that comes from the inherent part of the tech market where the media loves to always focus on the next big thing, even when it doesn't come close to the performance of the existing technology, and possibly never will.

Even so, knowing their is some growth in tablets, Intel has officially launched a new division to focus on the segment.

As far as the performance of Intel, Otellini said the firm "remains on track for our best year ever as a company," using that as an opportunity to bring up the introduction of its next-generation microprocessor, Sandy Bridge, which he called "best product we've ever built."

Sand Bridge is scheduled to launch in January in Las Vegas, and will compete directly against AMD's Fusion.

As for the smartphone strategy of the company, Otellini said top-branded smartphones with Intel chips in them won't be launched until the second half of 2011, pushed back from the original expectations of a release in the first half of 2011.