SourceCode: Google's Big Play

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Google's big developer conference, Google I/O 2011 took place this week amid a flurry of intriguing announcements in the Android OS and Chrome OS space. Google seems to be going after Apple in the music and video streaming and delivery space as well as staking a claim in the home automation and entertainment space. News this week included the unifiying of the Android OS between Tablet and Smartphone under the Ice Cream Sandwich release later this year and the launch of cloud-enabled Chromebook notebooks.

Google's Chromebook is a cloud-powered netbookGoogle's big play is towards ubiquity. The Android OS is Google's beachead and lynchpin and has been successful in growing its installed user base at a tremendous pace. During the Google I/O keynote they stated the following.

"It’s hard to believe a little more than two and a half years ago, we were just one device, launching in one country, on one carrier. Thanks to the ecosystem of manufacturers, developers and carriers, the platform has grown exponentially. There are now:

• 100 million activated Android devices
• 400,000 new Android devices activated every day
• 200,000 free and paid applications available in Android Market
• 4.5 billion applications installed from Android Market"

More importantly, Google Android started on one device from one carrier to over 350 devices across carriers and countries. Of course, the flipside of this is that nagging problem with Android fragmentations (in a nutshell- a lot of smartphones are stuck in older OS versions due to carrier and manufacturer 'issues' leaving customers and developers high and dry).

This issue was finally addressed at this year's Google I/O with news of Ice Cream Sandwich which will is the upcoming version of Android that will work on both tablets as well as smartphones. Older Android devices might not be upgradeable but it is good to see Google focusing on unifying their OS efforts going forwards.

Out Apple-ing, Apple

Google is clearly out to compete against Apple in a number of areas just look at the product matchups today.

Mobile OS: Android vs. iOS

Desktop OS: Chrome OS vs. OS X

Music and video rental service: Google Music Beta and YouTube Movie Rentals vs. iTunes Music/TV/Video 

Notebooks: Chromebooks vs. MacBooks

Mini PCs: ChromeBox vs. Mac Mini

Set top box: Google TV vs. AppleTV

Web Store: Chrome App Store/Android Marketplace vs. Mac App Store/App Store

Google and Apple are both software companies catering to very similar users so we expect the war, and it will be a war, to heat up between these two companies. Apple's own developer conference takes place next month and we expect Apple to fire back.

Of all the announcements this year, we were most intrigued by the Chromebook initiative. Starting June 15th, Google will be selling Samsung and Acer made netbooks via Best Buy and Amazon.com in 7 countries (but not in Canada). The Chromebooks run purely within a browser, offer long battery life and have 3G and WiFi connectivity options. These are 12" inch and 11" inch netbooks that aren't too different in size to Apple's 11"inch MacBook Air although they have limited storage.

This service from Google includes Chromebooks and a cloud management console to remotely administer and manage users, devices, applications and policies. Also included is enterprise-level support, device warranties and replacements as well as regular hardware refreshes. Monthly subscriptions will start at $28/user for businesses and $20/user for schools.

There are benefits to a cloud computer and Google outlined many of these. Fast boot time, unlimited cloud storage, long battery life, instant software updates and the ability to access apps through the browser (without having to install them).  Aside from the battery life, you need the device to be connected in order for it to work as designed. Below is an overview of what we can expect.

"At the core of each Chromebook is the Chrome web browser. The web has millions of applications and billions of users. Trying a new application or sharing it with friends is as easy as clicking a link. A world of information can be searched instantly and developers can embed and mash-up applications to create new products and services. The web is on just about every computing device made, from phones to TVs, and has the broadest reach of any platform. With HTML5 and other open standards, web applications will soon be able to do anything traditional applications can do, and more.

Chromebooks will be available online June 15 in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain. More countries will follow in the coming months. In the U.S., Chromebooks will be available from Amazon and Best Buy and internationally from leading retailers."

It will be interesting to see if these tablet priced cloud netbooks will gain the kind of mileage Google needs to really get users interested. These are exciting products that may be the right solution for certain educational or corporate users provided the right productivity software is available, otherwise they are a risky proposition.