I think both experiments are consistent with the idea of thinking of the different Google properties as individual apps, and with Chrome apps becoming first-cla

I think both experiments are consistent with the idea of thinking of the different Google properties as individual apps, and with Chrome apps becoming first-class apps. Thus on ChromeOS you would access gmail through the menu of applications (not by going to google.com and clicking on the mail link on top). If I click on the Gmail "app" on ChromeOS it's confusing if the top navbar appears, because then there are two ways to launch other apps. The second experiment seems to be experimenting with exposing non-ChromeOS people to this notion (i.e. get everyone used to the app menu, so that it feels natural when they get ChromeOS). It would be possible to do this by e.g. hiding the navbar only on ChromeOS; my guess is the idea is to have a consistent experience across all browsers. If you're stuck inside IE on Windows the app menu is embedded into the google page. If you're on the "brave new world" of ChromeOS the app menu is native. But if the navbar isn't there on ChromeOS, then it can't be there on IE.