When Google announces it was working on an operating system for netbooks and other devices, the company said netbooks with Chrome OS would start shipping in late 2010. But it looks like Acer may be fast-tracking its first Chrome OS netbook for a mid-2010 launch.

We already knew that Acer was working on a machine with Google’s operating system. Now Digitimes reports that it could ship by the middle of the year. It’s not clear whether this means that Google plans to push up its launch date for Chrome OS or if Acer plans to release a machine running beta software.

This isn’t Acer’s first foray into a Googlecentric netbook. The company also offers a mini-laptop that dual boots Google’s Android operating system and Windows 7. But Android is an OS designed for smartphones (and increasingly for low power tablets), while Chrome is specifically designed for devices with larger screens and faster processors.

If you can’t wait for Acer and other netbook makers to start preloading machines with Chrome OS, you can download pre-release builds of Chromium OS today. Chromium is the open source, beta version of Chrome OS. It’s still a work in progress and under heavy development. But it already supports a pretty wide range of netbook hardware.

Samsung is the latest PC maker to jump on the Google Chrome bandwagon. A Samsung rep in Australia says the company will launch a netbook with a 10.1 inch display and Google Chrome OS later this year.

There’s no word on what kind of CPU will power the device, but it’s expected to have 3G and WiFi capabilities, 2GB of RAM, 64GB or more of storage, and a batter that runs for up to 12 hours.

Normally I’d say that’s a giveaway that the netbook will use an ARM-based processor such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. But several of Samsung’s Intel Atom N450-powered netbooks are supposed to get more than 10 hours of battery life, so you never know.

via Netbook News.de

Acer appears to be branching out into pretty much every new area that’s getting even a slight bit of buzz. Bloomberg reports that the company has a notebook running Google Chrome OS coming in Q3, 2010. After the initial launch, Acer plans to offer Chrome on as many as 10 percent of the company’s netbooks. Acer hopes to sell as many as a million Chrome-based netbooks by the end of te year. There’s no information about the hardware that will power these netbooks.

The report also says Acer has an eBook reader on its way and that the company plans to offer an app store for downloading software as well as eBooks.

Of course, Acer isn’t entering these markets just to make us happy. There’s a pretty significant profit motive behind each move. Chrome OS will likely be free to license, which makes it an appealing alternative to Windows 7 for netbooks. And while Acer surely hopes to make some money off of eBook reader hardware, the real money is in digital downloads of software and eBooks. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to host a digital file online and charge for each download than to crank out and deliver new hardware.

For more details on the Acer eBook reader and a few details about an Acer tablet which may or may not ever see the light of day, hit up Bloomberg.

There’s a rumor going around that Google isn’t just developing an operating system for netbooks (which we already know is true), but that company is also in the process of developing an actual netbook. While Google isn’t exactly known as a hardware maker, this rumor falls into the plausible category, since Google is also widely reported to be developing a cellphone running Android OS. And as Apple has demonstrated time and again, if you want your operating system to run smoothly on hardware, your best option is to design the hardware.

This weekend the rumors got a little more interesting as British site IB Times listed the rumored specs of the upcoming Google netbook:

• Display: 10.1 inch HD ready multit-touch screen
• CPU: ARM-based processor
• Storage: 64GB SSD
• Memory: 2GB
• Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, Ethernet
• I/O: USB, webcam, 3.5mm audio jack, flash card reader
• OS: Google Chrome OS

IB Times also says the netbook could be subsidized by wireless carriers and sell for under $300.

All told, it sounds like one heck of a machine. And to be honest, I’d say it’s far more powerful a device than you need for running web-apps alone. Then again, anyone who has spent some time watching movies, editing documents, and performing other tasks in a web browser can tell you that more RAM and memory is always better than less. But I wouldn’t be surprised if people picked up this netbook in hopes of hacking it to run a different flavor or Linux or of tweaking the open source Chrome operating system to run native apps instead of the web-only apps Google plans to offer.

When Google officials introduced the operating system recently, they stated that netbooks designed to run Chrome OS would be larger than today’s netbooks and have full sized keyboards. At the time, I figured this meant the netbooks would have screens larger than 10 inches, but it’s possible that Google reps, like a lot of other people, still think of netbooks as 7 to 9 inch devices with cramped keyboards even though the vast majority of mini-laptops released in the last two years are much larger and more comfortable to type on. Anyway, if the rumored specs are true, the Google netbook will have a 10 inch screen and likely won’t be much larger than the average netbook on the market today.

Of course, we’re still dealing with rumors and speculation here, so please pass the salt and I’ll take a grain. I suggest you do the same.

via Netbook News.de

Concept drawing (formerly a Dell Inspiron Mini 10v)

A few days ago a contact tipped me off to the possibility that Google might not just be developing an operating system for netbooks, but that the company could actually be involved in building a netbook that it would sell under the Google brand name. You know, sort of like it’s expected to do with the Google Nexus One cellphone soon.

The reasoning is pretty solid: If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. So far Google has been taking the Microsoft approach in the cellphone market with its Google Android operating system. Google makes the software and works with hardware manufacturers to make sure it can run on as many devices as possible. But that means that those hardware partners get to tweak things to their hearts’ content, and in the end the user experience may not be exactly what Google had anticipated.

And so that leads the company to try the Apple model: design the OS and the hardware to ensure seamless interaction between the two.

Google officials have already said that the company is working with hardware makers to design new devices that will run Chrome OS. They made a big deal of suggesting that the new devices would have larger keyboards and displays than current generation netbooks, to offer a better web experience. But you know what the best way to make sure that the hardware meets your vision? Build it yourself… or hire someone to build it for you.

TechCrunch apparently got the same tip that I did, and then a few more, because Michael Arrington reports that “multiple sources” confirm that Google has been “talking to at least one hardware manufacturer about building a netbook for Google directly.”

There aren’t a lot of details about the device yet. But it will reportedly offer mobile broadband capabilities and it may be bundled with a 3G data plan and sold by telecoms. It’s not due out until late 2010, and it’s possible that we could see other devices from third party companies running Chrome OS before the Google netbook actually hits the streets.

Of course, there’s still a chance that this is just a concept device, a rumor, or something else. In other words, it might never come to market. But if it does, it’ll be interesting to see whether the Microsoft model or the Apple model works better for Google. In other words, will the company have more success selling its own hardware or licensing its software to third party companies? Or will both crash and burn because people expect more from a PC operating system than a glorified web browser?

Google held a press event this afternoon to talk about the company’s upcoming Google Chrome operating system. Here’s the short version: It’s a light weight OS built to support the Google Chrome web browser. The only apps that you’ll be able to install will be web apps, although Google is working to ensure that Chrome OS can interact with desktop hardware such as video cards and webcams.

Since the OS basically only exists to boot a web browser, the whole thing loads in about 7 seconds on a system with an Intel Atom processor, and you can get online and launch web apps in another 3 seconds.

You can read more about the operating system and see additional screenshots at Download Squad.

But here’s the interesting part for netbook users: Chrome is set to launch initially for netbook-like devices. That means clamshell devices with a full sized keyboard. In fact, Google representatives said that they expect the devices that run Google Chrome OS to be larger than today’s netbooks and to have high resolution displays. They say they expect those netbooks to be in “price ranges people are used to” seeing from netbooks today, which to me means $200 to $400.

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It’s no secret that Google is working on an operating system aimed at netbooks (at least initially) called Google Chrome Operating System. But while the company announced a few months ago that the OS would be available as a developer preview by the end of the year and wouldn’t actually show up on devices until 2010, there’s this magical place called China where essentially anytime something technological can happen, someone seems to think it’s a good idea to make it happen. And so I’m not entirely surprised to see Shanzai.com reporting today that industry sources in China expect devices running Chrome OS to start shipping in mid-October.

Google still hasn’t said exactly when it will release the first public alpha or beta version of its software. But an October release to steal some of the thunder of Windows 7 isn’t entirely out of the question. And while Google may not really expect big name computer makers to start selling devices with the OS in the West until it’s been thoroughly tested, I could see some Chinese manufacturers slapping a pre-release version of the operating system on some cheap hardware and shipping it right away.

In related news, Shanzai.com suggests that Chrome OS could be installed on computers with the Loongson 2F processor. You don’t hear much about the Loongson CPU in the West. It powers the Emtec Gdium Liberty netbook. The MIPS-based processor was developed by China’s Academy of Sciences and also shows up in some Chinese products. Since it’s not an x86 processor it can’t run Windows and sort of winds up in the same camp as ARM-based processors that have to run Linux or alternate operating systems, which could make Google Chrome attractive. It’s not clear whether Google plans to release a MIPS port of the operating system, but we already know that it’s designed to run on x86 and ARM devices and even if Google doesn’t release a MIPS version I wouldn’t be surprised to see a third party develop a port.

Google Chrome OS is an upcoming operating system with a heavy emphasis on web integration. At launch, Google plans to optimize the operating system to work with netbooks. NVIDIA Tegra is a platform that bundles a low power ARM-based processor with NVIDIA graphics to enable 1080p video playback on extremely low power devices. What happens when you put Tegra and Chrome OS together? Well, I don’t know, but it looks like we’re going to find out soon.

Kevin Tofel at jkOnTheRun reports that NVIDIA is working on Tegra devices running Google Chrome. Up until now we’d only seen prototypes running Windows CE and Google Android (and the Microsoft ZuneHD operating environment).

Windows XP, Vista, and 7 won’t run on ARM based processors, which means that mini-laptops with these low power chips will have to look elsewhere for operating systems. While a number of Linux distributions can run on ARM processors, the backing of Google could make Chrome (or Android) a popular choice for smartbook makers.

No word on when we’ll see Tegra+Chrome devices hit the market, but since Google Chrome OS isn’t expected to be widely available on netbooks until 2010, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that we won’t see anything before the end of the year.

Someone pass the salt, please, because all we’ve got to go on here is the word of a web site called Shanzhai — which generally covers news of cheap Chinese knockoffs of netbooks and other computers. But Shanzhai.com is reporting that both Lenovo and Acer could launch new netbooks based ont he NVIDIA Tegra platform and running the Google Chrome Operating System as early as this month.

The word comes from a source that the web site describes as “reliable,” but I’d still recommend keeping that salt shaker handy.

If true, it would mean a few things. First, it would indicate that the Google Chrome Operating System is much further along in development than Google implied when the company announced the OS in July. At the time, Google said a pre-release build could be available this fall, but that actual products running Chrome OS wouldn’t hit the streets until next year.

Second, it would mean that two of the world’s biggest computer makers were getting ready to back NVIDIA’s Tegra platform, which combines a low power ARM processor with a high performance NVIDIA graphics chip. NVIDIA has been pushing the new platform pretty hard, but so far we’ve only seen prototype devices from lesser known companies like Mobinnova.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lenovo, Acer, and other PC makers dip their toes in the Tegra/Chrome waters, perhaps to sell standalone devices, or perhaps to offer low power 3G-enabled netbooks through wireless carriers. But I seriously doubt we’ll be seeing any of these devices hit the market in the next month or two. Still, I’d love to be proven wrong.

Asus may have pulled its experimental Google Android-powered netbook from sight after teasing journalists with it at Computex in June. But that doesn’t mean the company is sticking to Windows and Xandros Linux. Sascha at NetbookNews says a reliable source has told him that Asus will launch a netbook with Moblin Linux in October.

Moblin is a custom Linux distribution created for netbooks. The OS started out as a pet project for Intel, and it’s designed to work well with always-connected netbooks with small screens and Intel Atom processors. The Linux Foundation now runs the project, and a number of other Linux distributions have talked about adopting some of Moblin’s technology for their own netbook-optimized operating systems.

I’m going to take this news with a grain of salt for now, since Asus has a tendency to experiment with products that never make it to market. But Sascha is in Taiwan at the moment, where I know he’s been meeting with officials from the company. He also reports that Asus is working with Google to develop products that will run that company’s upcoming Chrome operating system.