Google plays coy on Chrome OS Google is playing coy over the future of Chrome OS, its still-gestating, browser-based operating system. When the project was first revealed in July 2009, Google said that systems based on the OS would arrive in the second half of 2010 — and through this past summer, it continued to make similar promises. But last week at the …
From what I've seen of the beta's I don't think I'll bother. Another Ubuntu/SuSE/Fedora knock-off? No thanks!
Then again you get added Google Privacy-Stealer(tm) technology included for free, so maybe it will be worth a laugh to VM it and see how much of your personal info is siphoned off down the tubes to the Google HQ!
"CEO Eric Schmidt said that a completed OS was still "a few months away,""
Still trying to hide the trackers (whoops, I meant safe-browsing link verification), WiFi geolocation and Big Brother back-end from prying eyes, Mr. Creepy? Amazing what you can do with "open source" these days, eh?
I don't see much reason at all for Google to support two operating systems. Android is out there already, perfectly suited for a range of roles including the roles that Chrome OS is supposed to fill. Why two mutually exclusive operating systems? It smacks of some internal turf war (just like Microsoft with Kin and Windows Phone 7), not some coherent strategy. Kill Chrome OS and move any good bits into Android.
Where does Google profit from Android? OK, companies have to license the Google apps, but apart from that? Google never meant Android to take off in that fashion. It was Chrome OS that was meant to be used for tablets and Chrome OS is basically a web browser you use to run Google (and other) webapps in, with ads by Google.
Google has even been trying to keep Android off tablets because of this. The main reason there are so few real Android tablets is the fact that Google actually tries hard to make sure every fully supported Android decice is a smartphone and nothing else.
Sometimes I wonder if Google ever had a real strategy with its products. They're throwing things at the wall and see what sticks. And every time something becomes a great success they seem to be utterly surprised and do not know what to do now.
"Where does Google profit from Android?"
Google sells mobile advertising (e.g. AdMob). All those games & apps you play which have ads? Google is taking a cut of that. All those apps you buy on marketplace? Google is taking a cut of those too. All those sponsored results that come back in a search? Google charges for those. Less obvious, but important long term is that every Android phone sold is one less for the competition.
The reason Google invests time on all those fancy apps is the same reason it does on the desktop. Useful apps get used. Usage of an app lets google gather info on you. The more they know about you, the more relevant ads they can deliver to you and in turn the more money they make from advertisers. Things like GMail & iGoogle mainly exist so you sign in to google so they can keep tabs on you.
Even where there is no obvious revenue stream it isn't hard to think of ways they might monetize them in future. An arbitrary example - say you plan a journey through the Google trip planner. It might ask if you want a rest break for a long journey and when you say yes, it will recommend a sponsored restaurant along the route and give you directions to it. More money for Google.
"When the project was unveiled, Google said it was working with multiple hardware manufacturers on devices and components, including Acer, Asus, Freescale, HP, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba."
And then... the iPad came out, and everybody went back to the drawing board.
-dZ.
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