There is an interesting analysis, over at Gaj-IT.com, of the impact that Google’s new Chrome OS, which is rumoured to be released this week, will have for Apple and Microsoft.
Google is trying to repeat its success with Android on smart-phones with Chrome OS on Wi-Fi and 3G enabled netbooks. Google are clever enough to know that they can’t unseat Microsoft from their dominant position on the desktop but Google doesn’t really need to. To Google the world is the Internet (or the Cloud as it is more fashionable called nowadays). Take for example the new Google Maps application with turn-by-turn navigation that Google is testing in the USA. To access the maps and get the navigation information the phone, running Google Maps, needs to be connected to the Internet and it gets its information live from Google. Previously Sat-Nav systems used the maps stored in their internal memory for the navigation information, but now any more.
So Google is trying to release an Operating System where connecting to the Cloud is the most important feature. This means that Google is aiming this OS squarely at netbooks and Internet Tablets which will at least have Wi-Fi and optionally some form of 3G connectivity.
The web is operating system agnostic. It actually doesn’t matter if you use Windows, OS X or Linux. Firefox (and ultimately Chrome) is available for all of them and what do you care which operating system is running under the hood.
So what does it mean for the average gadget fan. Simply it means that Windows and OS X will remain dominant on the desktop but future Internet savvy devices will start to run Google Chrome OS. And as yet Microsoft don’t have an answer for this. Interesting Apple is in a much better position than Microsoft in that the operating system used on the iPhone and iPod Touch already does everything that Google want to do with Chrome OS (but with Safari rather than Chrome). If the rumours are true about an Internet Tablet from Apple then you are pretty much guaranteed that it will run a variation of the iPhone OS. This means that there will be an app store for the Internet Tablet and because they are Apple everything will be cool. So really Google is going head to head with Apple and Microsoft will be left behind (again).
Oh, did I mentioned that it the piece of written by yours truly (Gary, senior blogger of the Hi-Tech Squad)… No… Oh well…
Related links:
Is Google Chrome OS Coming This Week? Does it Matter?
Well, sure… Google is more going head to head with Apple because Apple has the lead in terms of mobile operating system quality / features. Microsoft is barely in the game at this point. However, this should be a concern for Microsoft. History has demonstrated how the lower end markets have often evolved to the point where they cannibalize sales from higher end markets. For example, nobody is buying big IBM “mainframes” anymore. As PCs became more powerful, they became good low end servers, etc. The same is possible with lower tier products like tablets, etc. Most people use their computer for web browsing and e-mail. Apple / Google could very well threaten the low end PC market – you know, where Microsoft dominates now.
Apple is about to make the PC obsolete with the iTablet. I see Google heading in the same direction. Both companies are making Microsoft irrelevant going forward. In a decade the Wintel PC will be all but dead, with mobile computing and divergent devices becoming the ubiquitous standard.
What tortured logic you have.
Google is aiming the Chrome OS at the NetBooks and, eventually, at the lower half of the consumer market. This market is currently the property of Windows and Linux computers. Apple doesn’t want this niche because there is too little money in it.
So, the logical target of the Chrome OS is the Windows OS, because it will be much more secure and easier to use. But, the intent of the Chrome OS is to sell Google’s ads.
Next, you prophesy that Apple will be selling tablet computers in this lower half of the consumer market. But, there is no proof of that.
Let us say that you are right and Apple intends to produce a tablet computer. How does it hurt Apple if there is a Chrome OS? I am assuming that Apple will produce a very polished tablet computer. Its OS will be head and shoulders above Chrome OS, because it will be designed to work perfectly with the tablet hardware. Apple’s tablet will be able to use Google’s services just as Mac’s are able to do now. Hence, Apple and Google are not in competition, because Google doesn’t sell hardware and Apple does not sell page ads. If they split the consumer market between them only Microsoft is hurt.
Google is hardly going head-to-head with Apple.
Google is first and foremost an internet ad company. Just behind that, they are an internet based services (cloud) company. The reason for pushing out their own mobile and desktop based operating systems is simple, they don’t want to concede that potential ad space to Microsoft who are also interested in the internet ad and services markets. Google is attempting to beat Microsoft at their own game, vendor tie-ins. If Google can give away Android for free and get those OEMs to use Googles services on their hardware, then they’ve effectively pushed Microsoft out. Microsoft doesn’t just lose the OEM OS license, they also lose the potential ad, services and most importantly back-end revenue (a large chunk of Microsoft’s profits come from corporate server/client licensing).
Your answer is Microsoft Office 2010. Read more about it if you don’t know.
should be a good, clean fight. my moneys on Google!