The long awaited (and expected) announcement of the arrival of the cloud-based Google Chrome OS for netbooks has been officially announced by Google. The netbooks which will have the OS pre-installed will be coming to shelves sometime next year, meaning that the anticipated Christmas release will not be happening.
A slightly unusual move by Google, whereas much of their focus has currently been on touchscreen smartphones and tablets with their Android OS, the new Chrome OS will be coming exclusively to the declining netbook market, focusing on web-based applications.
During the announcement, Google gave a demonstration of the netbook OS, as well as revealing that Acer and Samsung are manufacturers of the first Chrome OS devices, which are due to launch in six months.
The OS is currently in its beta testing phase and generic black 12-inch computers with the OS installed are being sent to "qualified users" who will be attempting to resolve the "2000 issues" reported to be slowing the OS's arrival.
In the official Google Blog, VP Engineer Linus Upson, and VP Product Manager Sundar Pichai said "We're excited to get Chrome notebooks into the hands of users. The data from our test pilots is key to building something wonderful. We look forward to working together to make computers better" in regards to the announcement of the Chrome OS.
As well as the announcement of the Chrome OS, Google also announced the launch of the Chrome Web Store, which will provide Chrome OS users with a line up of more than 500 apps featuring web-based news, games, and various other media apps.
Via: T3