Buoyed by the success of its Android-powered Nexus tablets, Google is reportedly gearing up for a Q3 (or early Q4) launch of a so-called ‘Androidbook’ notebook powered by the company’s mobile operating system.
The news comes from Digitimes, meaning some of you will take it with a grain of salt the size of Uluru. However, the Taiwan-based tech publication does hit the target on occasion, so interpret the claim as you wish.
When you recall that the Mountain View company recently appointed Chrome OS head Sundar Pichai as head of Android, it certainly makes a lot more sense that a product like this could soon hit the market. Some observers have been speculating that Chrome and Android will merge, and though this could still happen, Digitimes’ report suggests a move of this nature is much further down the road.
The Androidbook – if it exists – would likely come with a touchscreen and, being powered by Google’s mobile OS, would potentially have instant access to the huge library of apps on Google Play, making it for many consumers a much more attractive proposition than a Chromebook.
While Google launched a touchscreen Chromebook in February – the Pixel – it doesn’t of course have the ability to run Android apps and also comes with a hefty $1299 price tag (Wi-Fi only), or $1499 for the 4G LTE version. You can expect any Androidbook to be priced much more competitively.
If Google does have a new Android-powered notebook up its sleeve, the Web giant might make an announcement at this year’s Google I/O event taking place in San Francisco in May.
We’ll keep you posted.
