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Google co-founder expects Chrome for Android

Chrome is a browser for PCs today. But its technology, and likely its name, will move to the company's Android mobile phone software, co-founder Sergey Brin says.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
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Google co-founder Sergey Brin speaks at the Chrome browser launch event.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin speaks at the Chrome browser launch event. Stephen Shankland/CNET News

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Google's new Chrome browser is for PCs today, but company co-founder Sergey Brin expects the technology will make its way to Android, the company's mobile phone operating system and software suite.

Chrome and Android were developed largely separately, Brin said in an interview at the Chrome launch event Tuesday. "We have not wanted to bind one's hands to the other's," Brin said. But you can expect that to change now that both projects are public and nearing their first final releases.

"Probably a subsequent version of Android is going to pick up a lot of the Chrome stack," Brin said, pointing to JavaScript improvements as one area.

And the brand name likely will follow. "My guess is we'll have 'Chrome-like' or something similar," he said.

Chrome and Android's current browser both already employ WebKit, an open-source project for the process of interpreting the HTML code that makes up a Web page and rendering it on a screen.

Click here for full coverage of the Google Chrome launch.