When Computex kicks off next week, don’t expect to see any devices running Chrome OS.
Computex, held every year in Taipei, Taiwan, is one of the largest trade shows for PC makers, and you’d think Google’s upcoming OS for netbooks would be a star attraction this year. But Google is still racing to finish the operating system, and consumers aren’t likely to see the first Chrome OS devices until late fall.
Chrome OS will also be seen only in netbooks, at least at first, since the company isn’t encouraging Chrome OS for tablets. Instead it is steering tablet makers toward Android, the first of which will be the Dell Streak that launches in the U.K. next month.
“For Chrome, we are targeting the netbook form factor,” a Google representative told Wired.com. “The timeline for the first products is towards the end of the year.”
Google introduced Chrome OS in November as a lightweight, browser-based operating system that would boot up in seven seconds or less. The company said at the time that the first Chrome OS netbooks would be available in the “second half of 2010.”
Google is working with major netbook makers such as Acer, which is hoping to ship a million Chrome OS netbooks this year. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said Chrome OS netbooks will cost between $300 and $400, coming in line with devices running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
Earlier this month, a report suggested Acer could show its Chrome OS netbook as early as June, but Acer has denied it. ”We have no short-term plans for such as product at Computex,” said an Acer statement on the company’s website.
“Given Google’s emphasis on Android at its developer conference, it is unlikely that we are going to see much if any Chrome activity at Computex,” said Michael Gartenberg, partner at research and consulting firm The Altimeter Group. “Chrome is probably not ready for prime time.”
If Google doesn’t move forward fast enough, it may lose ground to Microsoft’s Windows operating system, particularly among tablets. While they haven’t abandoned their Android plans, MSI and Asus both recently announced Windows 7-powered tablets.
Chrome is visibly a work in progress. At its I/O developer conference last week, Google announced a web-based app store that will feature free and paid apps. The app store will be a big step forward to making Chrome an attractive OS, according to Michael Cherry, vice-president of research for operating systems at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft.
“The missing piece so far has been apps and with the web-app store announcement Google is a step closer to the finish line,” said Cherry.
Apps are important for Chrome because Google has pitched it as a Linux-based, open source operating system centered on Google’s Chrome browser. Applications will run exclusively inside the browser.
Having easy access to those apps will be the key to the success of Chrome. The newly announced Chrome web store would do just that. When Google Chrome users install a web application from the store, a shortcut to quickly access the program.
Meanwhile, Google has to do a fine balancing act between Chrome and Android.
Chrome OS has been largely designed for netbooks and larger clamshell devices, while Android is aimed at smartphones.
Tablets fall somewhere in the middle, potentially causing confusion about which OS is best suited to the form factor. For its part, Google has been telling partners to adopt the fast-growing Android for mobile devices and reserve Chrome for netbooks and laptops: machines that can actually deliver on the thin client promise.
“Chrome is an open source project so anyone can take the code on any sort of device without telling us,” says the Google spokesman. “But we think Chrome and Android are two different approaches.”
Google wouldn’t comment on if it will ever merge Chrome and Android.
For now, Android is racing ahead, says Gartenberg.
“Android has the resources and momentum, and it is run by Andy Rubin and his team,” Gartenberg says. “Chrome appears to have fewer resources and no clear leader, at least from the outsider’s perception. In the near term, Google’s efforts are going to be Android-based.”
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