New Intel, Nokia Joint Lab to Focus on 3D Mobile Tech

Intel and Nokia on Tuesday opened their first joint laboratory, a collaboration that will focus in part of the creation of 3D mobile technologies.

The lab, located at the University of Oulu in Finland, will employ about two dozen research and development professionals and will be part of Intel's European research network, known as Intel Labs Europe.

One potential 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 immersive," 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."

The center is part of MeeGo, a Nokia-Intel collaboration announced at this year's Mobile World Congress. The two companies merged their Moblin and Maemo platforms into one software platform known as MeeGo. It is open source and hosted by the Linux Foundation. Developers can use the Qt app development environment and market apps through Nokia's Ovi Store or the Intel AppUp Center.

Since much of the new lab's research will be open source, MeeGo "provides the greatest flexibility for developing new 3D experiences," Intel and Nokia said.