In the most recent episode of the All About Android podcast, special guest Hiroshi Lockheimer talked about the work being done on Android and Chrome OS and he addresses the rumors that Google plans on merging the two into one operating system.
On the podcast, Lockheimer was asked what’s the difference between Chrome OS and Android to the layperson who may not be as familiar with tech as we all are. Lockheimer says the key difference between the two is how they got their start and how they operate compared to one another.
While Android saw its beginning with phones and then was expanded to tablets, watches, TVs, and more, ChromeOS started its life as a laptop operating system that is always up-to-date. ChromeOS has been extremely successful in public education, but among general consumers it hasn’t really gained traction versus Microsoft’s Windows despite being the number two platform for laptops.
Lockheimer says having two successful products that merge into one wouldn’t make a lot of sense for Google, which is why the two will remain separate. To address the availabililty of Android apps on ChromeOS devices, he says that apps were made available on Chrome devices so that both Android and ChromeOS can continue to be succesful and play off of each other. ChromeOS got access to Android apps, while Android benefits from ChromeOS’ seamless updates which were introduced in the Android N beta preview earlier this year.
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