Tech Lover 9

While it‘s true that the Google Chromebook has not exactly been a stellar sales device since its launch last summer, is seems that Google will maintain its support with the Chromebook laptop – as an early strategic move to educate users of the benefits of running their apps and storage entirely in the Cloud. In fact, schools in 41 US states are already trying out Chromebooks and it is expected that a number of education systems will be buying between 25.000 – 30.000 Chromebooks, running the Chrome OS, within the next three years.

Chromebook simplicity

The main idea behind the Chromebook is to offer a simple browser-based laptop that everyone should be fast and easy to learn and handle. Almost everyone is already familiar with using a browser anyway.  The Chromebook is also similar to mobile smartphones in that the device connects automatically to an available WiFi network or falls back to a 3G cellular network if WiFi is not available. There is of course no doubt that the Chromebook will soon be available for 4G networks as well, meaning that download speed over a cellular network could reach up to 100Mb/s. Not bad at all.

Offline is still a limitation

Although the Chromebook may have a number of advantages, perhaps especially in a future context, it still has a number of limitations. Yes it’s true that you can replace many of the installable Windows and other applications with cloud-based Google products like Gmail and Google Apps and an increasing number of other apps available in the Chrome Web Store. Even offline apps are becoming more common in the Web Store. However, there is still a long way to go for Google when it comes to offline mode, especially when comparing to other laptops with installed OS‘s, mainly Windows of course. The Chromebook truly may become a serious alternative for pure online computing – which is of course becoming the primary way of computing anyway, and again displays similarities with the smartphone ecosystem.

Chrome OS vs. Android

Today, the Android and iPhone ecosystems build their strength around their respective app stores. Users obtain and download an app to their handset. Some apps can be fully used in offline-mode while other relies on data from the Cloud. The Chromebook seems in many ways to be heading to a similar direction as the smartphone – and tablet.

So the next obvious question to be asked is – why would you want a Chromebook running a Chrome OS rather than an Android tablet or iPad for that matter? Furthermore, if the Chrome browser is becoming Android‘s default browser in version 4, as has been hinted, it puts an even bigger question mark behind the Chromebook, doesn‘t it? Not so according to Google, which rightly point to competitors that also maintain two OS’s, including Microsoft Windows and Windows Phone 7. Apple has Mac OS x and iOS.

Still there are a number of complications with running two similar OS models at it seems in the case of Chrome OS and Android. For example, do people that buy an app in the Android Market have to re-purchase it through Chrome Web Store? The situation seem a bit confusing at the moment for Google and it is going to be exciting to see how the company will continue to drive both platforms forward.