> Android is now clearly their platform of choice, it runs on TVs, cars, phones, tablets, watches and in your home. The same OS, different screens was their message.
This was one of the big surprising take aways for me. The minute Pichai took over I had the feeling that Android's future was limited - they would keep investing in it for sure but it would be on a long term road map for convergence and eventual transition to ChromeOS. I expected to first see Chrome apps running as first class citizens on Android, then a new SDK for Android that was all about ChromeOS and then finally a deprecating of the Java SDK. It always felt to me like internally Google preferred ChromeOS and the web as a platform and Android was a sort of accidental success that they were just running with until they could somehow meld it into their pure vision of computing, as represented by ChromeOS.
So now I'm having to significantly revisit all that thinking, as if anything Google seems to be pushing Android everywhere and little was said about ChromeOS.
This is not some single person dictatorship where Sundar can just call all the shots. They are so many people vested in Android at Google. I don't think Sundar has a choice.
I really dislike how everyone thinks the too management can sweepingly do anything they want. It does not work like that.
Though if you're invested in Chrome apps, at the end of the day it's still web technologies. It'll run anywhere, even if Google is backing off. In some ways it's a safer bet for developers.
Chrome is now a first-class citizen of Android; its tabs will now appear seperately in the multitasking menu. Android apps are coming to Chrome OS in windows.
If this is to be interpreted as a first step, I imagine that Chrome OS will eventually become yet another variation of Android. A variation focused on windows, and instead of bundled installed apps a greater focus on Chrome. But still with it all being Android underneath.
This was one of the big surprising take aways for me. The minute Pichai took over I had the feeling that Android's future was limited - they would keep investing in it for sure but it would be on a long term road map for convergence and eventual transition to ChromeOS. I expected to first see Chrome apps running as first class citizens on Android, then a new SDK for Android that was all about ChromeOS and then finally a deprecating of the Java SDK. It always felt to me like internally Google preferred ChromeOS and the web as a platform and Android was a sort of accidental success that they were just running with until they could somehow meld it into their pure vision of computing, as represented by ChromeOS.
So now I'm having to significantly revisit all that thinking, as if anything Google seems to be pushing Android everywhere and little was said about ChromeOS.