Eric Schmidt: Chrome and Android to remain separate

By Alex Dobie
last updated

With the recent news that Chrome boss Sundar Pichai will be taking over from Andy Rubin as head of Android, together with Android features like Google Now starting to show up in Chrome OS, there'd been speculation that the two platforms would eventually merge into one.

Not so, says Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who spoke to reporters at the Big Tent conference in India today. According to Reuters, Schmidt said that the two would remain separate, but that there'd be more "commonality" between them. So while we may see more overlapping features, the two operating systems will remain technically independent. And it would seem there are no plans to roll Chrome OS and Android into one super-OS spanning both mobile and desktop.

Schmidt also dismissed speculation that he himself may be leaving the company, saying "Google is my home."

Source: Reuters; via: The Verge

Alex Dobie
Alex Dobie
Executive Editor

Alex was with Android Central for over a decade, producing written and video content for the site, and served as global Executive Editor from 2016 to 2022.

26 Comments
  • So bring Android to desktops already, make it an OS that becomes a complete OS when attached to a mouse and a keybord like Ubuntu Touch does!
  • Android already works with a mouse and keyboard, and game pads, and joysticks. All it needs is real printer support and other stuff to make it a true possible desktop OS.
  • Android with mouse and keyboard is just as good as Windows 8 is....
    Full screen apps and other 'mobile' stuff definitively destroys the desktop experience, that is why I said for them to adopt Ubuntu Touch's idea...
    When you attach a keyboard and a mouse, UT become a real desktop with multiple windows and all the stuff a desktop needs to be a real desktop, that is what both Android and Windows 8 lacks (and why Win8 sucks)....
  • +1 Any environment that forces me to have maximized windows (or just a few windows) will never be on MY desktop. Linux + KDE for me, thanks. But I would love a way to run Android apps under "real" Linux [natively, not virtual]...
  • REMIX OS!, very nice bro, anriod on pc, well desined too
  • While Android is a great OS, this is probably not going to happen. Android x86 barely has any apps, so devs will have to update their apps to support x86. Windows has a huge library of programs, and it's still a more powerful OS.
  • Yeah. Ok, Eric.
  • Ok so they will have separate names and run on separate platforms but will share commonality.....as in....run the same apps? Write your app for the phone or tablet, use a few additional API's that will enable it to run on the Chrome desktop and developers are set. Write your app for chrome add additional API's that will enable it to run on an Android phone Your set. I bet people wouldn't even mind paying a little bit more for this ability.
    If I can think of this surely Google has.
  • He's lying. Why would they make a big Chrome Android statue?
  • Is it crazy to think that the new version of android is Khrome? If they have already confirmed Key lime pie or something else please disregard this comment
  • It's definitely not Khrome. All the Android versions are named after desserts or sweets. While it might not be Key Lime Pie, it probably is going to be.
  • Hey a Google Bike!
  • My thoughts exactly!!
  • Eric Schmidt is trying too hard to be a hipster. First the gangnam style video, now posing on a multicolored bicycle that is more appropriate for a 12 year old girl? Please give it up, man.
  • That photo is really old... older than the gangnam video.
  • Are you kidding? I came here to say I wanted that bike to roll around my work campus!
  • They have those google themed bikes all over the campus for google employees to use.. I don't think he is trying to make a statement.
  • He is just being goofy. There's no harm in an odd personality. We are all young at heart.
  • This.
  • Maybe they are trying to avoid the whole anti-trust mess that Microsoft went through with Internet Explorer being too closely bundled with Windows? Just a thought...
  • That no an issue for them really. Apple would be more in danger of that than Google.
  • Those bikes are all over the Google campus. A few months ago when they posted all those pics of the Google server buildings they talked about using those to get around.
  • Lol, what a nerd.
  • whenever i see headlines like this (usually apple related) i always amend the words "for now" in my head, to end of the sentence, as i read it.
  • I think Chrome OS and Android would just be sharing the same Play store content. Well essentially you can access it all from the browser but I think it will be all integrated, say, instead of having a chrome web store and a play store it will all be play store. Also web apps integration on android?
  • Alex- you need to edit the title and first sentence of the article. It is "Chrome OS" not "Chrome". Just "Chrome" is typically used to mean the browser. So that makes it all quite confusing.