Around the Net
Google-Branded Netbook Next?
- TechCrunch et. al, Thursday, December 17, 2009 2:30 PM
Sufficiently convinced that a Google-branded smartphone is imminent, industry bloggers have moved onto rumors of a Google-branded "netbook."
According to TechCrunch, the search engine has reportedly been talking to at least one hardware manufacturer that may or may not have plans for building the netbook, which Google may or may not announce sometime before the 2010 holiday season.
Insisting that Google is in no rush to release anything, TechCrunch says, "Next Christmas you may be getting a high performance Google-branded netbook running Chrome OS for next to nothing."
According to TechCrunch's source, Google gave the manufacturing company a Request for Proposal, which includes all the technical details of the rumored Google-branded Chrome OS netbook.
"Google's debut in the world of netbooks, as a device vendor is not very surprising, considering the company's expected entrance in the mobile segment with the HTC-designed Nexus phone," writes Softpedia. "The Google netbook could pack an interesting number of features and has the potential of revolutionizing the segment ... However, we are currently dealing with rumors and we should take all with a grain of salt."
"Google's already said you'll need to buy a Chrome OS machine if you want it officially, but if TechCrunch's sources are right, they could be launching Google-branded hardware for the platform, much like they're doing with the Nexus One," writes Gizmodo. "Sure, you may've already downloaded an early Chrome OS build on your current machine, but unless you want it to be your sole platform, and running just the way Google intended, then you'll need to buy the official hardware."
According to Liliputing.com, the reasoning is "pretty solid." "If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. So far Google has been taking the Microsoft approach in the cellphone market with its Google Android operating system ... But that means that those hardware partners get to tweak things to their hearts' content, and in the end the user experience may not be exactly what Google had anticipated."
On the news, 9to5Mac notes, "Google is clearly emerging as a huge competitor for Microsoft, but also remains on a trajectory to impact against Apple at some future point."
