Intel (News - Alert) and Lava International announced the launch of their new XOLO X900 for general availability today, and what makes this one so unusual is that it represents the first Intel-powered smartphone released for Indian markets. Lava further announced that it would be partnering with Indian electronics store giant Croma for distribution of the XOLO X900. The Intel/Lava International partnership first took shape at the Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) show, which took place in Barcelona back in February, and the XOLO X900 was in development roughly since then.

The XOLO X900 offers up an Intel Atom Z2460 processor running at a 1.6 GHz clock speed supported by Intel's Hyper Threading Technology, and also offering support for HSPA+ 3G connectivity. The phone also boasts 1080p video encoding and playback, an eight megapixel camera that can shoot in a 10 frames per second burst shooting mode, a 4.03 inch LCD touch screen display, Android (News - Alert) Gingerbread for an operating system (an upgrade to Android's most recent version, Ice Cream Sandwich, will follow shortly, according to reports), and a battery life expected to last between five hours for 3G browsing and up to 45 hours for music listening.

Lava International's previous offerings have brought in plenty of happy customers; in fact, according to co-founder and director Vishal Sehgal, the numbers are up around 10 million happy customers, and this in under a three-year period. It's plain that the market for smartphones is reaching impressive new levels in India, even if the XOLO X900 likely wouldn't do near so well in other markets, fairly glutted with high-end smartphones. But for the Indian markets, whose arrival into the overall smartphone market is a more recent affair, the XOLO X900 may find many more willing customers and less overall competition.

The XOLO X900 will go on sale for Croma and direct sales starting April 23, with other retail markets to start stocking the device in early May.