Eric Schmidt, CEO of small, obscure search company 'Google' (man, that name is never gonna' take off, amirite?) revealed that the folks at Mountain Viewhave no interest in either a Google-branded netbook running ChromeOS or a followup to their Nexus One smartphone.
Their reasoning? While the Nexus One was a necessary 'experiment' to push the hardware requirements of the smartphone forward - which, we might add, worked pretty well - notebooks and netbooks are already pretty powerful, especially when it comes to basic tasks like web browsing. What's more, claims Schmidt, computer manufacturers are already used to working with software companies like Microsoft. We are going to be generous and assume that, by this, the Google CEO meant nothing about 'being bent over a table'.
Ahem.
But for similar reasons, Google sees no reason to update the Nexus One with a so-called Nexus Two because they're is already a healthy stable of Android devices, especially with the new Froyo-friendly models from HTC and Motorola.
Whether or not this approach will work, however, is up for debate. ChromeOS is quite a radical departure from traditional operating systems. Everything Google has said suggests that ChromeOS notebooks will rely on online, cloud storage, eschewing the current primacy of hard drives and local storage in favor of the web.
Will people be willing to get behind this new kind of OS without the kind of easy marketing message provided by a single, branded device? After all, who would Google rather than rely on to pitch this new platform? Their own marketing team, or a Best Buy salesperson? After all, the latter option is what happens when you let hardware partners sell your OS rather than the company who makes it.
What do you think Techi readers? Would a Google-branded ChromeOS netbook be more compelling than one made by Dell or HP?
About the Author
Navneet Alang is a Toronto-based technology and culture writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic and The Globe and Mail. Between 2010 and 2011 he wrote technology commentary for TECHi on Apple, cloud video and the future of the desktop computer.
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