Analysts Speculate on Chrome OS Delay

 

Gartner analyst Ray Valdes surmised Google is recalibrating its Chrome OS strategy due to the tablet phenomenon Apple launched with its iPad launch in April.

Combine that with Android's surge in the smartphone market, which has spilled over into the tablet sector with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and a rethinking of Chrome OS might be inevitable.

While there were certainly plenty of Windows-based netbooks and laptop computers at the Web 2.0 Summit, there were a shocking number of iPad and Galaxy Tab users among the attendees.

The iPad is its own success story, selling 4.19 million units in the last quarter, while IMS Research said the Galaxy Tab will lead Android to garner 15 percent of the tablet market next year.

That means fewer people buying netbooks and laptops and more people buying tablets, said IDC analyst Al Hilwa.

"Something happened on the way to birth Chrome OS, and it is called Android," Hilwa said. "Android has taught Google that maybe the cloud is not everything and there are ways to change the OS market dynamics without a pure cloud approach."

He added that Chrome OS may evolve, but perhaps as a testbed of ideas that might make their way in Google Apps or Android.

"I believe an incremental approach which integrates mobile devices with cloud capabilities is more likely to succeed in the long run."

In the short term, there will be no Chrome OS tablets for Christmas. But there will be plenty of tablets to choose from, from Apple, Samsung, Archos, ViewSonic and others.