Google’s merger of Android and Chrome OS in 2017 to boost mobile business

There will be only one Google OS to bind them all and that OS will be Android. Goodbye, Chrome.

Google’s decision to merge Android and Chrome, its two operating systems, seems to mean that what we’ll get starting 2017 with be Android PCs. Chrome won’t be “killed”, said a Google spokesperson, but there’s no word on the ultimate fate of this popular web browser.

Google is expected to reveal an early version of the new Android browser sometime in 2016. It’s also expected to give the combined Android and Chrome OS a new name. Reports assume the unified OS will run on PCs and Chromebooks that mainly use the Chrome OS.

For hardware makers, the move will mean companies that produce Google’s popular Chromebooks will still be able to use Chrome but can also use Android. Google and its partners will build PCs running Android next year, according to Re/code.

Analysts said the move confirms the supremacy of the Android OS and mobiles in Google’s ecosystem and also confirms rumors Google is moving away from the desktop.

Some analysts said having a single OS makes sense because it’s expensive to maintain two OS’. Besides, two OS’ also confuses device makers.

Then there’s the revenue picture. Android’s revenues are rising while those of Chrome are decreasing, the inevitable result of Google’s single minded focus on mobile phones.

Google hinted at the merger of both systems back in 2009 and recently released its first Pixel C tablet running on Android. Google CEO Sundar Pichai is a known supporter of the move towards a single Google OS.

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