Google (GOOG): Your New Hardware Supplier?
Is Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) poised to become one of your major hardware suppliers? Before you dismiss such an idea, keep close tabs on Google’s recent buyout of Motorola Mobility plus the upcoming Google I/O conference, where plenty of news involving Google Android tablets, Google Chromebooks and smartphones may surface. Here’s a mountain of speculation from The VAR Guy.
During a television interview with Charlie Rose earlier this week, Google CEO Larry Page reiterated a common theme: To give customers a fantastic end-user experience, you sometimes need to control the hardware and the software… the entire system.
Will Page update that statement during the Google I/O conference in June 2012? The VAR Guy and most rational Google followers would certainly bet yes. Google’s $12.5 billion buyout of Motorola Mobility became official this week. Google needs to maintain solid relationships with hardware partners like Asus, Samsung and HTC, so The VAR Guy wonders how aggressively Page will evangelize the Motorola Mobility buyout at Google I/O.
Google will also need to update its Chromebook strategy at Google I/O. Chromebooks run ChromeOS and are essentially cloud-based notebooks that schools and businesses can use for a flat monthly fee. Chromebooks, backed by Acer and Samsung, have not been big sellers to date. Will Google double-down on Chromebooks are reconsider the strategy entirely? Hmmm… Again, stay tuned for answers at Google I/O.
Oh, and don’t forget about the next wave of low-cost Google Android tablets. Google apparently is working with Asus on a 7-inch tablet that would cost about $199 or $200. Here again, The VAR Guy expects updates at Google I/O.
I wouldn’t be surprised if chromebooks started entering the enterprise. Google definitely seems to be making a push in that direction. Partners on the hardware side will have to help with the form factors. But with apple breaking through the “IT standards” and byod, it is very plausible.
The one thing missing is apps… A hosted virtual desktop perhaps? 🙂
Ali: What if Google Chromebooks had really tight integration with the Google Apps Marketplace… allowing customers to more easily find Google Apps-compatible cloud offerings?
Hmmm…
-TVG
I am not familiar with the app marketplace… It’s one thing to go to an app store and cotinuously keep adding apps, it’s quite another if you had a workspace following you around. But the next generation of users might be more prone to having an app dashboard.
Of course, my agenda is to promote people using Windows as their workspace. Same apps, same docs, and same wallpaper with the Hawaii trip in the background on any device.
Google’s “All your data are belong to us” approach is a deal-breaker in the enterprise. It may work in a school where there is no money to be made off kid’s homework, but on the enterprise, I’m not so sure.
The above named strategies are obvious as Google is currently closing the gap in the kernel that prevents Android apps from running natively. I have the funny feeling that Linux use will go up drastically in the next few years. Many people lose themselves in the ‘year of the desktop’ mantra, they forget that Linux itself is not designed to be tied to any one thing. If Android apps run natively on Linux then we would have the software base and the user base brought to all forms of desktop Linux at one time. Uptakes in business will provide ‘the year of the desktop,’ though something will always occur to falter the satisfaction people desire. The endgame for Google is near and they have advantage.
“the year of the desktop”.
Thanks for the laugh. I needed that today.
Ali@3: Thanks for the updated thoughts. Please keep The VAR Guy posted as you continue the Windows strategy.
Laxatora@4: The VAR Guy understands your privacy/data control concerns. But it seems like Government customers (like schools) are climbing aboard, as are SMB customers. How many enterprises will join in? The VAR Guy isn’t sure.
Atarivandio@5: What do you view as Google’s “end-game”?
Jimmy@6: Agreed. Linux had its mainstream chance when Windows Vista was out in the market stumbling along. Yes, Linux will enjoy some desktop market share. But year of Linux desktop? Nope.
-TVG