Well here’s an interesting turn of events. According to Download Squad, it has been confirmed that Google is rolling out an HTC-built Chrome OS tablet. Apparently it’s set to debut on November 26th and will be sold via Verizon.
Oh, in case you’re not aware: November 26th is Black Friday, this year. The single biggest shopping day in the US.
As for hardware, we’re seeing this:
- 1280×720 multitouch display
- 2GB of RAM
- 32GB SSD storage
- WiFi/Bluetooth/3G
- GPS
- Webcam
Is this the closest thing we’ve seen to real competition to the iPad? In our humble opinion, yes. Without a doubt. The question is, of course, will you buy it?
Wil definitely buy! But I think I would prefer a wifi only version. Don’t want another monthly bill from Verizon.
Same here, Adam. I’d rather pay the $30 for tethering, if I needed it, than to be stuck with something that I’ll rarely have use for.
I believe that I would buy the Google Chrome Tablet. I am under the assumption that tablet will be subsidized by Google and Verizon. This would make that tablet very inexpensive. I wonder if the tablet was further subsidized by Google Ads — in essence making the tablet free — would consumers and prosumers flock to purchase?
It’s in Google’s best interest to make certain that the Chrome tablet is a massive success. Google must place its massive financial weight behind this project. The iPad as had eight months of near zero competition — it’s Google’s game to lose.
I personally think I would prefer an Android tablet over a ChromeOS one, but I’m interested to see how this would turn out.
I would tend to agree with you but unfortunately we will have to wait until gingerbread. I hear Q4 release.
I wonder — is Google addressing two separate markets. One that would benefit from the Chrome tablet — while others would benefit from an Android tablet?
In essence the Chrome tablet is designed purely as a cloud based interface — a production device. An Android tablet would obviously be hardware rich — a device that values consumption over production?
I find that I use less apps on my iPad than I do on my iPhone. I do more web browsing on my iPad and use apps like Flipboard, Kindle, Netflix, Evernote. Most of the apps I use will also likely be created on a ChromeOS device. It seems that the ratio of free apps to paid apps on the iPad is much smaller and apps tend to be more expensive.
I like the iPad because of it’s form factor and battery life. I think a ChromeOS tablet could compete but needs to:
1. Cost less
2. Have some key differentiating features
3. Gain critical mass with app developers and in the app marketplace which I think it will especially since the barrier to entry for app developers is much lower than the iPad (doesn’t require a Mac to develop, is basically a web app).