Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s solution was to develop a number of software technologies that enable the futuristic Web app I described above. This is a good example of technology development being market driven, which is the opposite of the way people usually think about tech development. These key technologies are called Native Client, Packaged Apps, and App Launcher.
Native Client allows web apps to run native (compiled binary) code from within the Chrome browser. Native Client can speed up computation intensive tasks such as games or video processing, but is only available currently for Chrome Browser on Intel platforms such as Windows, Mac OS and Linux or Chrome OS on Intel. Google is still working on an ARM version.
Packaged apps are web apps that modify that window characteristics of the Chrome browser so that it looks like a standalone app. Each packaged app runs in a customized instantiation of a Chrome browser window. Each packaged app is still basically a web app in that it consists of web pages and possibly Native Client code, but the files are only downloadable from the Chrome app store, and can run standalone without Internet connection once installed. This technology is so new that there are very few packaged apps currently available. One of the few you can download is TextDrive.
The App Launcher is the most experimental of the three technologies and is only available by downloading the developer edition of the Chrome browser for Windows. The App Launcher in Windows is an app that installs into the task bar, and allows direct launching of all Chrome apps, whether web based or packaged.
Google’s Big Bet
What the reviewers don’t get about Chromebook Pixel is the big bet that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has made on its Chrome app technologies. Google is betting that it knows the future of apps for the Intel PC world (and possibly the ARM world as well.) If Google is right, then, before long, Pixel won’t be just an Internet appliance, but a full fledged touch enabled personal computer with a rich ecosystem of apps and services.
Perhaps Pixel was rushed out of the gate a little fast, but I believe Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) also perceives some vulnerability in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Chrome OS doesn’t suffer the split personality of Windows 8, in which users are tossed back and forth between the touch mode of the Windows 8 home screen and a desktop mode reminiscent of Windows 7. Touch is always available in Pixel, but so is the convenience of a trackpad. And where Windows 8 often bewilders users, Chrome OS is dead simple. Of course, Pixel’s touchscreen also gives it a leg up on Apple’s Macbooks.
The strategy of tapping into an existing developer community worked well for Android mobile devices, with over 650,000 apps currently available and a thriving ecosystem of millions of users. With Pixel, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has thrown down the gauntlet to Microsoft and Apple, challenging them on their home turf of personal computers. They should take the challenge seriously.
The article Google’s Chromebook Strategy originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Mark Hibben.
