Android Netbooks: Fact or fiction?
Contributors to the blog VentureBeat say they have ported the Google Android operating system to an Asus Eee PC. Does this constitute a new trend in Netbooks?
A couple of freelance writers for the blog VentureBeat say they have ported Google's Android operating system to an Asus Eee PC. But does this constitute a new trend in Netbooks?
Matthäus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann said in a post Thursday that they compiled, in four hours, the open-source Android operating system for an Asus Eee PC 1000H Netbook. The two run a start-up called Mobile-facts.
In somewhat breathless prose here's what the authors conclude about Android on Netbooks: "For (a) myriad of (Silicon Valley) software companies, it means a well-backed, open operating system that is open and ripe for exploitation for building upon. Now think of Chrome, Google's Web browser, and the richness it allows developers to build into the browser's relationship with the desktop--all of this could usher in a new wave of more sophisticated Web applications, cheaper and more dynamic to use."
If this was Verizon or Asus saying this, it would be product news. Otherwise, it remains an interesting experiment. The authors say Intel is one contributor working on the adoption of Android to a notebook, as a partner in Google's Open Handset Alliance.
Indeed, OHA does have a long list of illustrious members, many of them large companies (or entities) like China Mobile, Broadcom, LG, NTT DoCoMo, Nvidia, and Samsung.
Qualcomm is a member too. And, by the way, already has a prototype Netbook running Red Flag Linux on top of its Snapdragon processor. And it is worth noting that Qualcomm claims it has first-tier PC companies planning devices, including Acer, Asus, and Toshiba.
Would Qualcomm partners opt for the Android operating system instead? It is also worth noting that Qualcomm supplied the silicon guts for the T-Mobile G1, the first phone to run Google's Android operating system.