We’re all waiting patiently for the first Netbook to appear running with Google’s Android Operating System but despite many rumours we really have no idea how long it will be before that becomes a reality.
When asked about it at a press conference this week, Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chief Executive Officer didn’t give anything a way. He basically didn’t want to speak about Android and brushed it aside saying “we have no announcements on that” but proceeded to talk quite enthusiastically about Netbooks in general.
They (Netbooks) are “consistent with the cloud computing model” he said, which is very much up Google’s street with services like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Desktop, Picasa Web Albums and Google Calendar amongst others.
The implication is that Google is going to be focussing even more on cloud computing services for Netbooks and we may be hearing something about this very soon as Schmidt also said “keep an eye on this space”. Don’t worry, we will.
It would make a lot of sense though; Netbooks have low processing power and limited storage so cloud services would appear to offer the ideal solution.
We still want to know when we’ll be seeing Android on Netbooks though. Android is a Linux based operating system that is already used in mobile phones but Google is keen to have Android on any device, including Netbooks.
There are rumours that Dell is going to release a line of Netbooks running with Android but they haven’t commented officially. We know that Hewlett Packard are testing Android at the moment, and Acer were keen to have Android but have said that Android isn’t ready for Netbooks yet.
It seems we’re still none the wiser as to when we can expect Android on our Netbooks but one thing is certain, Google are definitely on to something.
Netbooks sales are going through the roof and are currently the fastest growing segment of the PC market. Love em or loathe em, Netbooks are here to stay for the foreseeable future anyway.
Netbooks don’t need a lot of processing power so the chips are cheap, they don’t have room for huge applications, which is where cloud computing services comes in, and in these economically challenging times Netbooks are very much affordable by just about everyone.
And of course, the greater the number of Netbooks in circulation the better it is for the likes of Google or anyone else with their head in the cloud so to speak.
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