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Google confirms Chrome OS tablet code
2011-04-11 Article Rating:  / 4
Google is baking specifications for a tablet based on its Chrome OS into its open source Linux code, the company confirmed. Meanwhile Google flattened its executive structure, promoting Android creator Andy Rubin and others to senior vice president roles, and has also acquired Pushlife, makers of an iTunes-like music app for Android.
A tablet computer based on Google's Chrome Operating System (OS) is wending its way through the search engine's open-source pipeline, the company confirmed. Chrome OS is Google's lightweight, Linux-based operating system designed to run all its software via the web. Google gave away a CR-48 test Chrome OS notebook to project developers in December, and said Chrome OS would appear on notebooks from Samsung and Acer later this year. Little has been heard about a Chrome OS tablet since, and Google had subsequently suggested that its tablet efforts would focus on Android 3.0, leaving Chrome OS to start on netbooks and evolve to support notebooks and desktops. By December, however, Google's Chrome chief Sundar Pichai suggested that Chrome OS might eventually migrate to smaller screens after it debuted for netbooks. Now, in an April 7 story, CNET reported that it discovered changes in Chrome and Chrome OS source code that point to further progress of a Chrome OS slate. Among the finds is a command enabling touch-enabled websites to support Chrome OS. There are also specs for a virtual keyboard with tab, delete, microphone, return, and shift keys. In addition, a revamped new tab page has been "optimized for touch," with application icons that may be moved around the screen. Google confirmed the existence of the Chrome OS tablet specifications, but told eWEEK no product was forthcoming. "We are engaging in early open-source work for the tablet form factor, but we have nothing new to announce at this time," a Google spokesperson said. Google envisioned the first Chrome OS devices would be clamshell form factor netbooks, but the CR-48 was a 12.1-inch notebook. The change was perhaps triggered by the wild success of the iPad. Sales of netbooks designed solely for web surfing dropped precipitously after the inception of the iPad and the subsequent release of Android tablets. Count IDC analyst Al Hilwa among analysts not surprised by a Chrome OS tablet at a time when IDC expects tablet sales to reach 44.6 million units in 2011 and 70.8 million units in 2012. "I think the tablet form factor will increasingly be seen as trendier, more suitable for content consumption and casual use, more accessible to non-computer-savvy audiences because of the directness of the touch interface," Hilwa told eWEEK. "For this reason, any new OS offering has to cater to that directly and include the appropriate developer APIs and mechanisms to make sure apps can work in both modes."
There is the concern that Android and Chrome OS tablets could cannibalize each other, said Hilwa. "Positioning it as a tablet brings into the foreground the overlap with Android Honeycomb and begs the question of which Google really wants OEMs to use," Hilwa said. "For this reason also, I think that most of the Chrome OS technology will surface in Android at some point in an incremental fashion." Hilwa said the application architectures need to take advantage of the computing power in the tablet to provide great performance through caching and offline work, since Internet access is still not ubiquitous or cheap. "Once we see such offline technologies work effectively in Chrome, then we may see it achieve broader acceptance [as a cloud device]," Hilwa explained. Google flattens hierarchy, acquires music tech firm Google CEO Larry Page reorganized his senior management team April 7, promoting high-level executives, including Android creator Andy Rubin, to head business lines and report directly to him. As reported in more depth in eWEEK, the move directly follows Page's assumption of CEO duties from new executive chairman Eric Schmidt, as well as the departure of Google senior vice president for product management Jonathan Rosenberg. While Rosenberg acted as an intermediary between product managers and Schmidt, this role has now been deleted from the management structure, leaving a flatter hierarchy.
Finally, Toronto-based music software firm Pushlife has been acquired by Google for $25 million, according to a report by StartupNorth, which was subsequently confirmed by Pushlife. The company makes an iTunes-like media player for BlackBerry, and now Android phones, enabling users to port iTunes and Windows Media player libraries to the devices. The media player and management software, shown below in a MobileSyrup video on YouTube (see below), may find its way into a Google Music iTunes competitor expected to be announced at Google I/O next month, according to a Phandroid report. Demo of Pushlife player on YouTube Source: MobileSyrup (Click to play) Related Stories:
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Pictures and a demo video of what a 
Industry watchers are keenly waiting to see what sort of tablet might emerge from Chrome OS, particularly since slates based on Google's Android 3.0 ("Honeycomb") operating system are storming the market. 
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