Google is tipped to make Android, currently its mobile operating system, its go-to platform for an upcoming line of personal computers. Personal computers by Google? Isn’t that what Chromebooks and Chrome OS are for? Precisely. Google and its partners like Acer, Samsung, Toshiba and others that have been producing Chromebooks will now have another choice operating system to bundle on their devices, Android.
The Wall Street Journal had reported a few hours ago that Google would fold Chrome OS, its current choice operating system for computers centered around the Chrome browser. That may not be entirely true though. According to technology news website Re/code, Google is simply providing choice and building on the momentum gained by its widely popular mobile operating system. Google will court its partners to build personal computers running on Android while at the same time continuing to support Chrome OS. These sentiments are echoed by Hiroshi Lockheimer, the new Senior Vice President for Android, Chromecast and Chrome OS who replaced Sundar Pichai who moved up the ladder to head the entire Google.
There’s a ton of momentum for Chromebooks and we are very committed to Chrome OS. I just bought two for my kids for schoolwork!
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) October 30, 2015
While Chromebooks, which run on Chrome OS, are currently popular with the education sector and still on the upward trajectory thanks to their competitive pricing, they are nowhere as popular as Android is. Android is currently used by over 1.4 billion people and that number is expected to continue rising as Google’s mobile operating system is tweaked to work well on wearables, makes its way to the car and shows up in the home through consumer electronics like the television.
The newly unveiled Pixel C, a tablet with the Pixel branding previously solely associated with Chromebooks made by Google itself, may be the first of efforts that will get more visible by the day as Google seeks to blur the line between Android and Chrome OS and simply provide a similar experience across the board while retaining the distinct identities of the two at the core level.
