At the Google I/O conference today in San Francisco, Senior VP of Chrome Sundar Pichai offered 5,000 attendees an update on Google’s Chrome strategy — including Chrome web browser and Chrome OS initiatives — and so-called Chromebooks from Acer and Samsung, which will debut June 15. There’s also a complete Chromebook for Business strategy that will cost users $28 per month. The keynotes offered channel partners new clues on how the software distribution and mobility markets will potentially evolve. Here are highlights from Pichai’s keynote.
1. Big Adoption: More than 160 million people now use the Chrome web browser, which has more than doubled in past year.
2. Open APIs: Google vowed to keep the web open, promoting faster, secure, scalable initiatives.
3. Google Translate: Ian Ellison-Taylor demonstrated speech capabilities in chrome, instantly translating spoken English words into Chinese.
4. The Chrome Web Store: Users have installed more than 17 million applications so far from the Chrome Web Store. “We’re taking the Web Store and making it available in 41 languages and making it available to all Chrome users. We want you to reach all users of Chrome, and more importantly allow you to monetize your applications.”
5. Low 5 percent fee: Vikas Gupta, product leader for Payments at Google, described how Google will make it easy for users to purchase applications, and easy for developers to profit from the applications. The payment technology requires a single line of code for developers; “We wanted to keep it simple,” said Gupta. The technology is priced at a flat fee of 5 percent, so “95 percent of the money stays with you, our developers.”
The crowd roared its approval.
6. Chrome OS and Chromebooks: Pichai offered an update on Chrome OS, a “nothing but the web” platform that eliminates anti-virus, patch management and other tedious tasks. Chrome OS will require three minutes of set-up for first-time users, and it will offer instant-on capabilities once you’re set up.
Interestingly, Pichai did not mention netbooks… he positioned Chromebooks at Chrome OS notebooks — a clear sign that Google realizes the netbook market has cooled off and may even be tarnished, I believe.
Over time, Chromebooks will get faster rather than slower. Within the first few weeks of the CR-48 pilot program for Chromebooks, Google received more than 1 million applications to participate in the beta.
6. Offline Apps: Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs will all be available with offline support this summer, Pichai asserted.
7. First Chromebooks: Samsung’s first Chromebook will start at $429, Acer’s first device — with a smaller screen — will start at $349. The Chromebooks will debut on Amazon.com and BestBuy.com on June 15. Google is also working on a Chromebox for desktop users who don’t require mobility. Google will also introduce Chromebooks for business, a software and hardware as a service that will cover everything for $28 per month.
More details are available at google.com/chromebook.
That’s all for now. More perspectives soon from Google I/O 2011.
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I’m surprised that there has not been more discussion on this topic here. Any Microsoft partners out there with thoughts on this? I’m really curious how other MSPs are reacting to this offering? What do you think? Disruptive innovation? Flash in the pan?