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An interesting story. Ars Technica [1] dug up a few months ago the the Pixel C was never meant to run Android - all the way through designed and development it

An interesting story. Ars Technica [1] dug up a few months ago the the Pixel C was never meant to run Android - all the way through designed and development it was tested with the Chrome OS loaded. At the last minute, the now unified Android / Chrome OS team decided to switch it to Android as a flagship device of their new Android direction and phasing out of Chrome OS in favor of Android. Result was a mess and probably the crappiest device Google has ever shipped, which anandtech rightfully pointed out. [1] http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/the-pixel-cs-bumpy-road-from-chrome-os-concept-to-android-adoptee/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/the-pixel-cs-bumpy-ro...

digi_owl 11y ago
Not so much dug up as (wildly) speculated based on circumstantial data.
AdmiralAsshat 11y ago
A ChromeOS tablet probably would've been a better end-product as far as a productivity tablet goes. The problem is that ChromeOS's app selection is pitiful for entertainment apps, and I suppose Google figured that no one would pay $500 for a "premium" productivity tablet when a cheap clamshell Chromebook would work nearly as well.
- digi_owl 11y ago
  That has been Google's problem ever since ChromeOS went from being a "can it work?" research project to something they wanted to monetize. If you look at the timeline, Android was poised to go "productive" with the 3.x for tablets. But at that very time the first Chromebooks hit the market, and the push was strongly towards the corporate (their unveiling even had a demo of Citrix client support). I can't help speculate that there was some backroom jousting between Rubin (Android) and Pichai (ChromeOS) about who should carry the corporate push, with Pichai winning and Rubin moving to X-labs. It seems that Google has renewed their focus on productive Android recently though, in large part thanks to incorporating Samsung's Knox tech and such. This likely because even though ChromeOS is a lovely "terminal", its not a phone platform. Bascially the corporate world lacks a proper upgrade path from Windows CE/Mobile that has been powering all manner of mobile devices. Going Android would allow quite a bit of flexibility, and choice in equipment suppliers. It would not surprise me that as with the previous Pixel, the Pixel C is as much for Google internal use as it is for retail. As i recall, the Chromebook Pixel was in part a push to provide an alternative to Macbooks for Google employees (i swear that Google may well be Apple's biggest corporate customer, possibly tied with Facebook).
  - whatusername 11y ago
    Don't forget IBM in the list of apples corporate customers.

digi_owl 11y ago

Not so much dug up as (wildly) speculated based on circumstantial data.

AdmiralAsshat 11y ago

A ChromeOS tablet probably would've been a better end-product as far as a productivity tablet goes. The problem is that ChromeOS's app selection is pitiful for entertainment apps, and I suppose Google figured that no one would pay $500 for a "premium" productivity tablet when a cheap clamshell Chromebook would work nearly as well.

digi_owl 11y ago
That has been Google's problem ever since ChromeOS went from being a "can it work?" research project to something they wanted to monetize. If you look at the timeline, Android was poised to go "productive" with the 3.x for tablets. But at that very time the first Chromebooks hit the market, and the push was strongly towards the corporate (their unveiling even had a demo of Citrix client support). I can't help speculate that there was some backroom jousting between Rubin (Android) and Pichai (ChromeOS) about who should carry the corporate push, with Pichai winning and Rubin moving to X-labs. It seems that Google has renewed their focus on productive Android recently though, in large part thanks to incorporating Samsung's Knox tech and such. This likely because even though ChromeOS is a lovely "terminal", its not a phone platform. Bascially the corporate world lacks a proper upgrade path from Windows CE/Mobile that has been powering all manner of mobile devices. Going Android would allow quite a bit of flexibility, and choice in equipment suppliers. It would not surprise me that as with the previous Pixel, the Pixel C is as much for Google internal use as it is for retail. As i recall, the Chromebook Pixel was in part a push to provide an alternative to Macbooks for Google employees (i swear that Google may well be Apple's biggest corporate customer, possibly tied with Facebook).
- whatusername 11y ago
  Don't forget IBM in the list of apples corporate customers.