HTC considering Chrome OS for Internet-access devices
Although Chromebooks offered by Acer and Samsung Electronics may see low cumulative sales of 25,000-30,000 units at the end of 2011, HTC is evaluating the feasibility of combining the advantages of Chrome OS and Android for use …
Context & Ripple Effects
HTC has circled Chrome OS before: reports in early 2010 had HTC working with Google on a Chrome OS tablet, and a Verizon-sold Chrome OS tablet was slated for late November 2010, part of a broader wave of Chrome-featured smartbooks vendors promised for that month. Neither materialized into an HTC product line.
What is new per DigiTimes is the framing: rather than shipping Chrome OS as-is, HTC is reportedly studying how to combine Chrome OS and Android advantages in Internet-access devices — an evaluation made against a backdrop where Acer's and Samsung's Chromebooks are projected at a combined cumulative 25,000-30,000 units sold by end of 2011.
First-order effects
- If HTC proceeds, it becomes a third major Chromebook-class vendor alongside Acer and Samsung, entering a category whose confirmed 2011 volumes are in the tens of thousands rather than millions.
- An HTC Chrome OS-Android device would sit inside HTC's own portfolio next to its Android phones and tablets, forcing HTC to decide which platform carries its consumer brand.
Second-order effects
- Weak Acer and Samsung Chromebook sales give Google a commercial argument to make Chrome OS more Android-compatible — exactly the blend HTC is rumored to be evaluating — shifting Google's OS roadmap toward convergence rather than two parallel products.
- Component and ODM partners gain a hedge: if Chrome OS-only hardware keeps underselling, vendors can reposition the same Internet-access device designs toward Android or hybrid builds without abandoning the category.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward consolidation of Google's client operating systems: if leading hardware makers demand Android app reach inside Chrome OS devices, the distinction between the two platforms erodes at the OS layer rather than the marketing layer.
- For the PC industry, the Chromebook experiment becomes a test of whether browser-centric hardware can survive without mobile-app parity — a structural question that will shape how vendors allocate design resources across Google's platforms.
The trend: Google's hardware ecosystem is drifting toward merging Chrome OS and Android into one Internet-device platform, with vendor hesitancy over weak Chromebook sales acting as the pressure.