Tech

Putting Android On Laptops Could Pay Off For Google

Google's Android is designed for mobile use, but it has the adoption and support to make it on a more traditional form factor.

Putting Android On Laptops Could Pay Off For Google
Getty Images / Justin Sullivan
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Android is a smartphone and tablet OS, but soon you could be running it on a computer.

The rumor started with a Wall Street Journal report that Google will direct its partners to start making laptops running Android. The company could also combine Android and Chrome OS — its current computer operating system — into a single platform. (Video via Google)

Google execs haven't explicitly denied that last bit, but they're also reminding everyone Chrome OS will still get support for the time being.

Remember, there's nothing technically wrong with Chrome OS. Google will still support it, and Chromebook manufacturers can still load it on their machines. (Video via Acer)

Android just has certain advantages over Chrome if Google really does decide to try it out on laptops. (Video via Android

Like scale. Android has a commanding lead among mobile device operating systems — more than 80 percent of the market. (Video via Google)

Chromebooks can't hold a candle to that kind of mainstream appeal. Even with strong adoption in the education sector, there are nowhere near as many of them. (Video via Google)

And Re/code notes Google is rightly focusing on mobile because that's where a lot of the revenue is, and where more of it is going.

If you want to get really technical, Google is first and foremost an advertising company, with a search engine and some various other bits bolted on. (Video via Google

And the mobile search advertising market is only projected to expand. So it makes sense Google would want mobile-focused hardware and software to take advantage of that. (Video via Apple)

What will this look like? Google's recent Pixel C tablet is probably a good prototype: You can configure it like a laptop and send your input with its keyboard, and it's running Android. (Video via Android Authority)

Android laptop releases — hopefully some less expensive ones — will start sometime next year. (Video via Android Headlines

This video uses an image from Getty Images.