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Another quarter, another Chrome Operating System tablet rumor begans to build.
Since the introduction of Chrome OS two summers ago, the search engine has been fond of posting mock drawings, UI designs and videos in its Chromium open source code Website showing Chrome OS running in a tablet.
I noted in April that CNET discovered changes in Chrome and Chrome OS source code that point to the progress of a Chrome OS slate.
Here is the latest clip, albeit from a non-Googler Web developer named François Beaufort, who posted via Google+:
I may have been bullish on Chrome OS tablets in the past, if only because I like to see Google push the envelope.
But having used Android tablets – I own a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and have tested the HTC Evo View 4G, Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom and Toshiba Thrive — they all sync in the cloud. What will a Chrome tablet offer me the Honeycomb tablets can’t?
There are two more key reasons I’m not so keen on Chrome OS tablets. Ready?
First, Apple’s iPad has humbled Android “Honeycomb” tablets, which everyone knows is Google’s software design.
Does anyone know anyone putside Googlers and Silicon Valley who has purchased — not received at Google I/O — an Android tablet and not returned it? Right.
So the Android brand for tablets, unlike its massive share for smartphones worldwide — Gartner shows 43.4 percent — is tainted and weak.
Second, and this is clearly a premature judgment — outside Googlers, Silicon Valley and Google I/O attendees who received a Chromebook free, does anyone know anyone who has purchased a Samsung or Acer Chromebook?
Right. So let’s not get giddy about a Chrome OS tablet — for all intents and purposes a hybrid of the two elemtns described above.
It’s clear to me Google would be unwise to bring to market when Android tablets and Chromebook have yet to take flight in the market.
Disagree? Discuss below and/or in Google+ if you prefer.