On Google ChromeOS, VoIP-only gPhones, and How the iPhone Benefits
When Google first mentioned ChromeOS, we figured it was their reaction to launching Android, then seeing Palm come out with webOS, and smacking their heads -- they could have done that with V8! (What, too nerdy?)
Lame JavaScript rendering engine jokes aside, the very traditional Android never really seemed like the OS Google should, or even wanted, to give to the world. ChromeOS does. (For those unfamiliar, when I guessed what it would be before the unveiling yesterday -- Brin and Page booting Linux which then auto-started the WebKit-based Chrome browser -- that wasn't a joke. It's really what I -- and many others -- thought they'd do, and pretty much what they did. Casey at Android Central has a bigger write up on it if you want the details).
Now bear with me because this will be a little bit all over the place (yeah, what else is new, but the future is woven from many seemingly disparate threads). The business reason (and remember Google is a business) makes a lot of sense -- booting in 10 seconds and getting into Chrome, and just Chrome, means users only have access to the web, and Google owns the web and most of its advertising revenue. Boot into Windows, Mac, or the *nix OS, and users may waste time in native apps, totally outside Google's reach. That's why targeting SSD-only netbooks on hardware approved by Google with mass storage access and (we're guessing) internet-driven printing gives Google a chance to own ultra-small scale computing. Free as in Google indeed.
And that's why it makes perfect sense for Mobile handsets in the coming age of ubiquitous connectivity. We're not there yet but we will be soon. And maybe that's why TechCrunch is following up their rumours of a branded Google gPhone with even more rumours that it will be a data-only VoIP device. That's right, no voice plan, just cheap data with Gizmo5-fortified Google Voice and all those other cloud-based Google services like Gmail, navigation, docs, etc.. (It's also suggested this device would run on AT&T, giving them some glamor back if they lose iPhone exclusivity next year).
Bringing this back to the iPhone, we all remember in 2007 when Steve Jobs announced the first "sweet" iPhone development platform -- WebApps, and the resounding thud of that landing on unenthused developers and users alike. But Google isn't Apple and next year is 2010. ChromeOS is, as Casey says, ambitious in concept if tame in current realization, but for iPhone users, that may not matter.
See, as iPhone users, we're excited because we're counting on all those Google ChromeOS WebApps to run just great in our iPhone Safari browsers as well, just like Google's current cloud-based apps -- which is something Android apps won't do (they only run on Android devices). Microsoft going web-based with Office 2010, which we're also looking forward to running in iPhone Safari, only makes it "sweeter". Cheap or "free as in Google" gPhones for those who just want data and browsers, iPhones for those who want all that and more?
Could we be getting the best of all worlds again? Apple and 100,000+ apps native on our iPhone (or Windows, Mac, *nix desktop), Google and Microsoft filling up our cloud along with their own? Yes please.
Let us know what you think!
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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So, you would only pay at&t for data, is it a good deal for them? I don't think so, unless they charge per MB of data usd, like minutes on a voice plan.
I Say let it happen, Win win for all!!!!!
@iDutch, AT&T offers the mobile data sticks, much like any carrier. Where thats all the client pays for, what they do with that Data is their business. I don't see how it would be any different.
Rene, you left out the part of open API's that will allow Apple to put into the iPhone Developers kit from which developers make newer, better apps for the iPhone.
@Richard Those data sticks cost $60 per month if I'm not mistaken, which is double that of the iPhone data plan, for the same service.
If I could get just the iPhone data plan at $30 for a phone like this then that would be awesome. But that won't happen. They'll probably charge at least $60 for data on a phone with no minutes, or worse they'll charge per MB like IDutch suggests.
AT&T will reportedly give data-only connections from non-iPhone smartphones like WinMo, so it'd be just one more step...
The 3G data stick modems (and the netbooks) are $60/month - for 5GB/month. There are no unlimited plans - even tethering is capped at 5GB/month on the most expensive plan. The only devices that can get unlimited data on AT&T are phones.
ChromeOS sounds great for mobile, but having it on a computer isn't for me. Most of my work is offline on large apps.
Wait....so, I get Office (at a price initially of course, i would hope), all of Google's glory, AND the add-ons with Apple backing me up?! Why WOULDN'T i get behind this?
The only people that wouldn't go for Chrome OS are the computer nerds...but face it, now that grandma knows how to start a FaceBook, it's the end user that everyone pushes for. The elderly (which know that i use that light heartedly) and non-techie people as they like to call themselves are gonna love Chrome....it's a computer that just runs on the Web....they don't have to know anything which is perfect for them...
And all of us on the other side get those benefits stacked on to our collection of awesome!
Oh, and one more thing. Didn't Microsoft attempt to limit choice of browsers on their PC's a while back which led to some run ins with the law? Wonder if the folks at Google will let people run a browser other than Chrome on their Chrome OS machines and allow a choice of web apps other than Google's. If not, what's a synonym for 'Evil'?
@The Reptile:
They addressed that during the announcement. Chrome OS only runs Chrome browser, but since it's open-source (Chromium OS), Mozilla, for example, could recompile and offer a version using Firefox as the UI instead (if they put the work into making Firefox presenting the mass-storage devices and other, broader features and OS UI needs).
@The Reptile: Sure. Just format the SSD and install Ubuntu. The browser choice argument here is akin to "why do they make me use Windows Explorer, I want to use Nautilus or Finder instead." It's not a browser - it's the OS.
Not there yet. While I use my browser heaps, it's always alongside native apps - and apps Google (as of today) doesn't have replacements for, much less good ones. Also saying it will support games is misleading, they'll be pretty limited little flash-based type stuff!
This could be great, but didn't people get pissed cus "omg google is gonna have all of my info fu** that.." and what not. Kinda funny that when google releases something for everyone, everyone gets all happy XD, same thing with their new navigation until someone said that google was working with apple to implement it on the iPhone.
@frog
I don't think it will ever be "there," in that sense. The root partition is ready only, and not even accessible to user space processes. In other words, this thing is designed from the ground up to be brain-dead-simple, secure, and limited in terms of local capabilities. It will never be a replacement for a full blown computer, and people who expect it to be will be sorely disappointed. It is simply not for people like you (or me). Google is betting there is a new market out there for a simple, secure, portable, but limited network device. Time will tell if there is such a market.
i like your all models of iphone The only people that wouldn’t go for Chrome OS are the computer nerds…but face it, now that grandma knows how to start a FaceBook, it’s the end user that everyone pushes for. The elderly (which know that i use that light heartedly) and non-techie people as they like to call themselves are gonna love Chrome….it’s a computer that just runs on the Web….they don’t have to know anything which is perfect for them…
This is a win win for every single person no matter what you affiliate yourself with.
If you don't really use Apple...then you want miss the Apple exclusion and you have all else that was mentioned.
Then of course, the Apple user have their favorite Apple apps plus all of this. This is the type of thing that should be happening. A way for everyone to enjoy all.
@pc to phone call:
There are better places to test your copy and paste.
Blah Blah Blah Can I just get my Google Voice app on my 3GS?
Google will buy or partner with xG Technology...it´s the only way they can accomplish what they obviously are striving to do.