14 DAY TRIAL // Tablet PCs are all the rage right now and it’s easy to see why. Apple has recently released the iPad and the hyped device seems to be living up to its expectations, at least in terms of sales. Now more than ever, device manufacturers and Apple competitors in general want in on the game. Google is becoming one of Apple’s biggest threats, so the rumor that it may be building an Android-based tablet may not be as surprising as it might have been a couple of months ago.
Rumors about tablets abound these days and rumors about Google tablets are also plentiful. Of course, Google has acknowledged that it is considering bringing its Chrome OS to tablet devices at some (distant) point in the future. An Android tablet would be a much more immediate solution.
The New York Times is reporting that none other than Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been boasting about the new device to friends at a party recently. Presumably, they weren't such close friends since this leaked out. The rumor goes on to say that Google has been working on the device for a while and has been talking with publishing partners to get content like magazines and books on the tablet PC.
Google Chrome on Android ?
Another interesting bit of information is that the device would run Google’s own Chrome browser instead of the native, but also WebKit-based, browser in Android. This last part seems a bit dubious. On the one hand, Chrome is a solid browser with a nice feature set, minimal UI and great performance. A good choice for an underpowered device like a tablet.
But the Chrome browser is the Chrome OS’ whole raison d'etre and, in fact, it’s only native app, everything else is in the cloud. Having the same browser on Android devices, with all the features, plus access to thousands of native apps would make it very hard to justify Chrome OS’ existence.
Android beyond the smartphone
Still, Google has been pushing to get Android on more diverse devices than just smartphones. The first 'Android-powered' car is coming soon and the rumored Google TV project would bring the mobile operating system to set-top boxes. And Chrome OS is only scheduled to be launched late in 2010 and only for netbook devices, at least at first. The iPad’s success may derail Google’s initial plans and the company may push to have Chrome OS tablet ready for the 2010 Holiday season.
An Android tablet, on the other hand, could be launched at this very moment, from the software perspective. In fact, Android tablets are coming from other manufacturers in the next few months. Android is an open-source project so third-parties are free to do as they wish, including getting it to run on tablet devices. But such a device coming from Google itself would be a much bolder move. One thing’s for sure, the next few months will prove very interesting for the emerging tablet PC market.