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I think next year's Android tablets will be more like the Play Store with Chrome OS under the hood, the apps they are obsoleting today will be a universally inf

I think next year's Android tablets will be more like the Play Store with Chrome OS under the hood, the apps they are obsoleting today will be a universally inferior experience on tablets because they were only ever supported on desktops. I think Google are betting on the Play Store for Windows and macOS breaking the Windows/Mac desktop paradigm too ... between Chrome the browser and Android apps Google occupies a lot of user attention already, they're already close to all the apps most people need, especially when they're co-installed on your desktop/laptop. In terms of functionality they're on the brink of parity with Windows wherever the dependency is really just x86. A commercial Android version of WINE has already installed the Windows version of Steam and playable games, just as sophisticated GPUs start moving to the same USB every cheap tablet will have next year. A lot of people will end up completely weaned off Windows/Mac app dependency... those are platforms on which both native app stores are orders of magnitude less popular than the Play Store and unpopular with developers.

benologist 10y ago
After thinking some more... Maybe Play Store for Windows and Play Store for OS X will launch real soon... as Play Store for Chrome. In Chrome OS they're currently adding the Play Store to select hardware including x86 laptops using ... "container" technology. In Chrome OS these apps will start to stop being available in about a year. In Chrome on Windows and Mac they are losing access to these apps, the vast vast vast majority of users, they start losing access almost immediately and completely lose access before this year ends. So I guess Android will be a small device OS. Chrome-as-Android will be the tablet/desktop/laptop OS. And if Google's bet pays off Windows and OS X will be an MS-D...OS.
- frik 10y ago
  Yes. The browser is already like second OS. So if Google provides the Android API through Chrome. And if Chrome comes with PlayStore, then a lot of people will be able to run Android apps on Windows 7+, macOS and Linux. And as a next step, people will ask themself why not just buy a notebook with Android and run 1-2 legacy apps via Wine or whatever. And the new announced (on Github) Fuchsia OS that may replace some rusty parts may happen like Win98 to WinNT. And MS can do little to prevent it, their Phones and tablets have a 1% global market share, their store is a joke, their UWP platform failed (Win10 exclusive games like Quantum Break already backported to Win7 and Steam), and they still do their best to scare of their long time users with their aggressive style, that was unheard of during Balmer era. So Google has a very good chance to win the desktop market share big time. Just don't forget about enterprise customers!
  - wordtoyourmom 10y ago
    All the desktop OS vendors have to do is allow you to run native apps inside a tabbed, browser-like shell alongside websites.

benologist 10y ago

After thinking some more... Maybe Play Store for Windows and Play Store for OS X will launch real soon... as Play Store for Chrome. In Chrome OS they're currently adding the Play Store to select hardware including x86 laptops using ... "container" technology. In Chrome OS these apps will start to stop being available in about a year. In Chrome on Windows and Mac they are losing access to these apps, the vast vast vast majority of users, they start losing access almost immediately and completely lose access before this year ends. So I guess Android will be a small device OS. Chrome-as-Android will be the tablet/desktop/laptop OS. And if Google's bet pays off Windows and OS X will be an MS-D...OS.

frik 10y ago
Yes. The browser is already like second OS. So if Google provides the Android API through Chrome. And if Chrome comes with PlayStore, then a lot of people will be able to run Android apps on Windows 7+, macOS and Linux. And as a next step, people will ask themself why not just buy a notebook with Android and run 1-2 legacy apps via Wine or whatever. And the new announced (on Github) Fuchsia OS that may replace some rusty parts may happen like Win98 to WinNT. And MS can do little to prevent it, their Phones and tablets have a 1% global market share, their store is a joke, their UWP platform failed (Win10 exclusive games like Quantum Break already backported to Win7 and Steam), and they still do their best to scare of their long time users with their aggressive style, that was unheard of during Balmer era. So Google has a very good chance to win the desktop market share big time. Just don't forget about enterprise customers!
- wordtoyourmom 10y ago
  All the desktop OS vendors have to do is allow you to run native apps inside a tabbed, browser-like shell alongside websites.