Google tablet to give Apple a touch of its own medicine

[m-reader]

Why not?

Google is trying to one-up Apple, showing off designs for a new tablet computer based on its Chrome operating system that would be a direct rival to the iPad.

Just weeks after launching its own iPhone competitor in the US, the Nexus One, Google might soon extend its competition with Apple further as it seeks to push its search and other products on to as many devices as possible.

Google's user interface designer, Glen Murphy, published mock-ups of a Google tablet on the search giant's Chromium.org website, along with a video of how users would interact with the device.

I know it's only a mock-up by Glen Murphy, but is it a sign of things to come?

[mores]

Nice 3D-model, I doubt it is buildable.
But I'm interested in a Google tablet.
Don't like Android, though. Too sluggish, too gimmicky, too many slide-updownleftrightoverunder-thingies.

[nick101]

Classic. "Company X has demo'd a drawing of a possible future product, says 'Don't buy Company Y's product now because I might have something that might be better some time in the future, and here's my drawing of it to show I mean business'. Will this drawing dent sales of Company Y's existing product?".

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by nick101

Classic. "Company X has demo'd a drawing of a possible future product, says 'Don't buy Company Y's product now because I might have something that might be better some time in the future, and here's my drawing of it to show I mean business'. Will this drawing dent sales of Company Y's existing product?".

Indeed! But it will be interesting to see where this game goes. I don't think that Google went and released this stuff for nothing. I'm not saying that they will be releasing something soon either, but it's enough to rattle a cage or two.
The more the merrier I say!

[nick101]

Originally Posted by m-reader

Indeed! But it will be interesting to see where this game goes. I don't think that Google went and released this stuff for nothing. I'm not saying that they will be releasing something soon either, but it's enough to rattle a cage or two.
The more the merrier I say!

Don't get me wrong - I'm sure Google really will release something.

What I'm getting at is 2 things:

1. Companies that say "The Product Z isn't that much, doesn't bother us, in fact it'll be good for us" - and then rush to produce a copycat (look at all the phones that borrowed heavily from the iPhone interface even tho' the makers said the iPhone wasn't a threat).

2. Journos/bloggers who say "Some guy in a bar told me he has a much greater idea than product Z, and I know it's real 'cos he drew it on the napkin, so I predict product Z FAIL".

I'm using Apple examples 'cos they're current - but the same applies everywhere

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by nick101

Don't get me wrong - I'm sure Google really will release something.

I'm sure they will too, in fact if they're smart they are sitting there reading all the forums and everyone's comments on the iPad. Then, in two months, they'll do the same thing but with real users responses and hopefully tailor their product to exceed it.

[kilron]

Originally Posted by mores

Nice 3D-model, I doubt it is buildable.
But I'm interested in a Google tablet.
Don't like Android, though. Too sluggish, too gimmicky, too many slide-updownleftrightoverunder-thingies.

well, see this isn't android, this is built on Chrome, which is both a good and a bad thing.

google's problem is that they're building on two completely separate and different OS's in Android and Chrome when they should be combining them into one.

these things should be targeted towards ease of use... familiarity in design... approachability... that's how you build something if you want it to reach mass acceptance. do you know anyone personally who has a computer running chrome? now how many people do you know who have an iPhone or iPod Touch?

that's huge difference right there. then on top of that... think about apps. lets see... apple's already got 140k+ apps ready to go for the iPad and how many does chrome have?

competition is a great thing, don't get me wrong, i just think google is going about it in very awkward ways. the android market is become WAY too splintered too with too many different UI designs and options. they're not taking market share from apple, but they ARE taking it from RIM (blackberry), Nokia (symbian), and Microsoft (windows mobile).

[yvanleterrible]

A 20" by 32" tablet? How much to they expect the thing to weigh?

[Daithi]

The iDesktopPad?

[mgm1979]

Google's in the same boat as Apple, in that, they have "fanboys" who will go out and buy/use whatever they release, whenever they release it. Apple may have a stranglehold on "fanboy" market share, but don't kid yourself into thinking Google isn't big/strong enough to lure some of them away - even if only 1 at a time. Where was apple before the iPhone, and how has their Mac lineup grown since then as well (piggy-backing off that market share bump). Google will get there, just wait for it...

Isn't Capitalism great?

[guyanonymous]

I agree re: fanboys to an extent.

But with respect to the google product, I think what many are fans of is less the company, than the "open-source" nature of their products. They/we are equally fans of other open formats, initiatives, etc.

[kilron]

fanboys have NOTHING to do with this. it has to do with making a quality product that is cohesive and marketable and has mass market appeal. apple knows how to do that. does google? that remains to be seen.

the point is that they have 2 mobile device operating systems that have almost zero in common. that's a problem for google, not a good thing. you can have some people designing tablets that work on chrome and others that work on android and each would have their own set of apps. what a mess...

being open source is great and all, but it doesn't automatically lead to market dominance. look at linux for example... can't get much more open and free than that, yet pretty much every regular joe consumer wouldn't touch linux with a 10 foot pole. its about implementation and execution. apple has it down to a science. google has a chance, but they're so new to the hardware and OS arena that its hard to say.

[guyanonymous]

Exploring alternate avenues of research?

One of the trends these days is to revisit paths of research that were cut off in the past. This is occurring in medicine, nuclear physics, biology, electric vehicles, materials research etc. Imagine where we'd be if those different research paths had continued to be funded.

I like that google is willing to experiment in multiple directions. Will they all work? Probably not, but shutting one down before it's been taken as far as it can, just because another seems more promising at present may be a losing proposition in the long run.

Could it cause some confusion in the marketplace? Of course...as can multiple products from different manufacturers. The Chrome OS? It's pretty much a niche thing relegated to the knowledge banks of geeks, at least relative to Android which is becoming more mainstream now.

And you're right about packaging. Linux is mainstream, but only in one variant - OSX...and you have to believe that 2-5% of the market of new computers constitutes mainstream.

[kilron]

oh i'm not saying its a bad thing that they explore, but what i'm saying is that you have some people thinking that its going to be a huge hit with zero basis of backing it up. chrome and android are so new and have so many bugs to work out. one example: one huge disadvantage android has over the iPhone OS is how it stores apps. the android OS dictates that all apps must be stored on internal memory and NOT on removable flash storage. but what do pretty much all of the android hardware companies do? they package 256 MB of internal memory and then throw in a micro SD card, so you have less than 256 MB of room for apps. not good! but that's just one example.

google is just going about things in odd ways... like why tout the android OS and have such a big deal with the DROID platform on verizon only to come out with your own branded phone the Nexus one just a couple months later? that would probably tick off verizon pretty good, but you'd think they were partners and all.... its just odd....

Linux certainly isn't mainstream and OSX certainly isn't linux. OSX is based on unix just as linux is based on unix, but that doesn't mean that OSX and Linux are the same. quite the contrary. but OSX is a mainstream operating system whereas linux has struggled to do so but has never received enough developer support and has always been too fractured to become mainstream.

i don't know what you meant by 2-5% of the market of new computers though. is that the percentage that are sold with some flavor of linux? probably ubuntu i'm guessing.

ETA: actually i completely forgot what the Chrome OS is all about. its not about apps because it can't run any. its strictly a web browser based operating system where everything is down through web browser windows so its not meant to download and install any apps like Android can do.

so to that i'd say a chrome tablet would be cool and probably a lot cheaper than the iPad, but then again it also will do a lot less as well. i suppose it'll suit some folks just fine and others not so much.... probably as much as any other device out there i suppose.

[guyanonymous]

Sorry I wasn't more clear. I've heard figures from 2-5% representing the proprotion of new computer purchases that are Mac products. I'm not sure if anyone is really sure, hence the range, but the Mac market is far from mainstream in my view. BUT...the Apple name is mainstream, without a doubt. Linux - definitely not so much, somewhere under 2% last I heard, and definitely not a household name.

Here's one related article I just found via google... http://www.serverwatch.com/article.php/3833076 ... it is from back in August last year.

As for problems - I'm sure every OS has issues. I agree that the internal/external memory thing is a doozy. But it was also the same issue on PDA's for a decade...as was total loss of memory when the battery ran out. They still sold.

I see the iPhone OS as horribly flawed because it locks you in to Apple and only Apple approved products.

Right now - I just got the cheapest phone I could because I want to use it as a phone, not a computer. I geek out with the best of them, but all the options, right now, leave me frustrated (windows based units)/waiting for a few more revisions (Android)/resenting their closed nature(iphone).

The NA phone market is different from most of the rest of the world, too, as I understand it. Outside NA, most phones are sold without contract and without being subsidized. Perhaps this affects google's decision, as Verizon doesn't necessarily represent that much of the world market.

p.s., thanks for the clarification of unix->osx