ARM chip camp sees Google Chrome as opportunity

Texas Instruments and Qualcomm executives talked Wednesday about the opportunities they see for the just-announced Google Chrome operating system.

Prototype Qualcomm Snapdragon processor-based device

(Credit: Qualcomm)

The Chrome operating system is "lightweight," a term that Google uses, meaning the OS runs fine on less hardware. Chrome will initially be targeted at Netbooks--essentially ultra-small laptops--that will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010, according to Google.

Both TI and Qualcomm believe the Google OS will provide more opportunity for new-fangled devices to gain wider acceptance. And both believe this is an opportunity for their respective ARM processors--which power many of the world's cell phones--to gain more ground.

Analysts see the makings of a broad realignment in the computer industry. "What Google is betting on with the Chrome OS (is a) shift in computing and consumer behavior," Charles King, president and principal analyst at Pund-IT, wrote in a research note on Wednesday. "If that scenario truly comes to pass, it could disrupt the efforts of virtually every vendor focused on personal computing."

Texas Instruments, which has been working with Google on the Chrome OS, expects big changes in the design of devices, according to Ramesh Iyer, TI's head of worldwide business development for mobile computing.

"Netbooks are really the tip of the iceberg. We need to fast forward into the future and think of things beyond the Netbook thanks to this initiative from Google," Iyer said in a phone interview. TI's OMAP ARM processor powers a number of cell phones and smartphones including the recently-announced Palm Pre.

"We see the future being cloud computing really. You are walking around with a simple tablet, that is probably no thicker than the thickness of your display. It may have a (physical) keyboard, it may have a soft keyboard. A world where you're no longer carrying around a two-pound or five-pound notebook but a small tablet," he said.

These handheld computers, sometimes called mobile Internet devices, physically differentiate themselves from high-end handsets, like Apple's iPhone, by their size. They typically have screens about 1.5 to 2 times the size of an iPhones's and, in some cases, come with keyboards.

Qualcomm is already seeing new designs in the pipeline. "We've seen designs that are so thin that when people pick them up for the first time they're shocked by how light they are," Rob Chandhok, vice president of software strategy for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, said in a phone interview.

For these devices, the focus will be the browser, not the OS underneath. "Probably one of the biggest things you can read into the Chrome announcement is that in this proposed world the browser is the platform," he said. "In Smartbooks (Qualcomm's terminology for a Netbook) you need a little bit more screen because you're reading documents and doing a lot of typing but not carrying around a four-pound laptop. In that environment, the most important platform is the browser," he said.

Chandhok also spoke to how the platform is different from Google's Android OS. "In Chrome, it is written as Java Script application," he said. "The difference is that the Gmail application on the Android phone is a separate application. (But) the way you would do that on a Chrome OS device is you would run that in a browser window. More of the computational environment is in the Web browser, like Google Maps."

None of this is lost on Intel. The world's largest chipmaker has been successful so far at squeezing its silicon into most of the world's Netbooks. And Intel is now going after the ultra-small device and smartphone market by hooking up with companies like Nokia and LG Electronics.

"We welcome Google's move. More choice in this area will benefit the industry and help to speed innovation," an Intel spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Will Google's Chrome technology result in a precipitous end to the domination of Windows-Intel-based laptops and Netbooks? King cautioned that Google has a lot of catching up to do. "We believe those assessments are deeply premature. By the time Chrome OS-enabled products (and their still-unknown tools and applications) reach the market Windows 7-based netbooks will have been available for the better part of a year," he wrote.

[mjoecups--2008]

Remember when oracle told us about how thin clients would replace windows?

Nothing new here, just talk. We shall see.

I personally don't want a computer that ONLY works when connected.

[gerrrg]

Apparently you don't use Google Docs or Gmail, otherwise you'd already know that you can create files and emails offline, and when you go online, sync it up.

[Splashes]

Neither will anyone else, and don't you think Google knows that? We don't know a huge lot about the Google OS, and at the moment it's vaporware, but we do know it's designed to be completely functional without a net connection.

[artistjoh]

You might not, but when the devices are compelling the market quickly embraces the new ways of doing things. Before the iPhone came out forums and comment postings were full of people saying that they wouldn't buy one because the keyboard was only onscreen and that touchscreen devices have always been failures or minor players in the past. Even today it is easy to find posters raving about the Pre because the keyboard and other features not on the iPhone are there on the Pre. Yet it is also apparent that for every Pre sold there are 10+ iPhones sold - most people have embraced the new apps based, multi touch device as being desirable.

Mentioning Apple - every one is talking about the Google/Microsoft competition but it seems to me that for months there have been rumors of a Apple tablet/MID/Netbook that should it arrive seems ready to leverage the success of the iPhone/iPod Touch and we have already seen how successful they are.

Microsoft shows no sign yet of playing the nimble game that Apple has been doing in the small device area and at least some of the iPhone growth has been at the expense of Windows Mobile. It is too early to write Microsoft out of the game but they have already shown their dominance in the desktop era is less secure in the small device area and they do not appear to innovate at a great enough rate to turn that around so far.

Apple, on the other hand appears to be offering solutions so far that people like in small devices and if they can carry that over to a MID I suspect that the real competition will be between Google and Apple. I am sure Apple is not too pleased with the prospect of a Google OS because I think they know that Google is much more likely to think different than Microsoft is likely to and as such Google could be a more fearsome opponent, especially if it displaces Microsoft quickly. It might be a case where Apple under its breath quietly wishes Microsoft well in this potential battle :-)

[cvaldes1831]

I used to crave a tablet PC, but in the past year (basically since the Apple's App Store opened up), I'm less enthusiastic about it. Why? Because I have a device (iPod touch) that I can stick in my pocket. And when I mean pocket, I'm talking about my jeans, not my winter parka.

In the past year, I think my MacBook has left the house twice. I found that my iPod touch is really all I need when I'm away from my house (this includes short trips out of town).

One thing I do understand is that the World Wide Web is not always the best way to access the Internet.

I currently access the following without touching a browser: e-mail, maps, news, weather, stocks, video (YouTube and other content, including live streaming), sports (scores and video), TV and movie schedules, social networks, maps, music (streaming audio from a variety of sources), transit schedules, restaurant reservations, voice mail.

For pocketable devices, the browser is not the best platform, not by a long shot.

I'll be interesting to see how this middle ground (the stuff between the iPhone and a notebook computer) shakes out, but these smartphones (as well as my iPod touch) are already so useful that there isn't much of a gap to bridge between these little devices and true notebook computers.

[cvaldes1831]

In addition to the pocketability of my iPod touch, there's another advantage to the small size: I can operate many of the apps with one hand, the same hand I'm using to hold the device.

The other hand can be doing something else, whether it be carrying a bag, writing, or holding a beverage.

[kool_skatkat]

Thanks Cvaldes1831. Put clearly here. You don't need a browser to access the internet for every. For common tasks, that are vertical, an application dedicated to the task works well.

iTunes proved it well and later the iPhone. I think netbooks are seen as cheap laptops and I think inpired by the XO laptop. Once a netbook doesn't do cheap anymore, then a laptop would be the better choice. A touch device that's very portable and a laptop seen the more appropriate mix.

[ebpda9]

That's what the iPhone and the iPod touch have going for them, they are small, they fit in almost any pocket. With something with a screen size twice the size of the iPhone/iTouch that portability will be gone. If i have to carry it in a bag might as well just lug my laptop around (a Gateway E155C tablet).

As far as tablets go I think they are just a whim. I have not really used the touch screen capabilities only to scare/annoy my friends when they play with the mouse, and all of a sudden the cursor jumps when i touch the screen. Other than that i found it useful in presentations and showing pictures.

Before someone starts saying about fingerprints on the screen my iPod touch picks up any fingerprint, while the tablet does not seem to get them unless you just applied lotion on your hands. Yes, i tried :)

[forever4now]

The computer industry has already been going through a significant paradigm shift, with the advent of modern smartphones. The Chrome OS has the potential to push this shift even faster & further.

A rapid shift to web apps could be VERY positive for app developers. Without any porting effort, HTML5/JavaScript/CSS-based apps will run on:

1. any OS (Windows, OS X, Ubuntu, Chrome OS, Android, ...)
2. any device type (smartphones, netbooks, notebooks, desktops, eReaders, photo frames, ...)
3. any CPU architecture (x86, ARM, MIPS, ...).

Presumably, the Chrome OS will support something like BONDI, to provide JavaScript interfaces to a device's resources (camera, accelerometer, GPS, etc.).

I would also expect the Chrome OS to support something like Native Client (NaCl), to enable the development of processing intensive web apps (e.g. games, simulations, etc.).

Things are getting REALLY exciting, these days! I can't wait to see where all of this leads us!

[Mr. Dee]

I really don't know why we are going crazy over an announced plan by a Search Engine.

[tipoo_]

Cnet should do a comparison between all the major ARM based chips out there.

[Jorge618]

I agree with tipoo_ there are several chip makers than are working on ARM processors.