Google I/O 2013

With Google I/O approaching it is time to start speculating...

Last year the keynotes at Google I/O were very different in tone; the one for Android and the one for Chrome OS. It will be interesting to see if there is any big change this year, now that Sundar Pichai will - indirectly - have a role in both.

Google's commitment to the web and the evolution of Chrome has taken them to an extraordinary place.  Soon it will be possible to develop apps using standard web technologies and deploy them to a wide range of environments; desktops running OS X, Linus or Windows as well as Chrome OS.

There seems to be a genuine desire to get Chrome apps to play nice in their host environments, not just within the browser. For example the launcher that was part of Chrome OS now has a variant in some desktop environments.

The Chromebook Pixel has a touch screen, so developing Chrome apps for a touch interface is clearly on the agenda.

So isn't it about time for Chrome apps on Android?*

Of course that question betrays my own prejudices. It may be completely at odds with reality - others have suggested that we may see Android apps on Chrome OS. But to my mind Chrome apps on Android would take you perilously close to what is now the almost forgotten dream of "write once, run anywhere".

Chrome apps launched from bookmarks with full-sized icons, running full-screen and appearing in the recently used applications screen would play nice with true Android apps.

 So maybe not so much speculation as wishful thinking...

 *"Chrome apps and extensions are currently not supported on Chrome for Android. We have no plans to announce at this time."


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