Google Promises Bright Chrome Future
NEW YORK (
) -- At a
in San Francisco Tuesday,
(GOOG) - Get Report
demonstrated an updated version of its Chrome operating system and promised to open a Chrome Web store.
The Chrome Internet-based operating software will power devices like notebooks and netbooks, which are expected to be sold by
Verizon
(VZ) - Get Report
with a data plan that starts at $10 a month. Google said the Chrome Web App store would open Tuesday and will feature programs from
Amazon
(AMZN) - Get Report
and
The New York Times
(NYT) - Get Report
.
The announcements arrive a year after Google first outlined its
, an extension of its Chrome browser. Google said it designed the Chrome OS for utility and speed by putting the software on the Internet and making it accessible from low-powered machines using high-speed WiFi connections or Verizon's 3G.
Via any Chrome device, users will be able to connect to their virtual computer and resume their Internet activities where they left off. Google's Chrome effort takes the opposite approach of computer software makers like
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
and
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
, which load machines with powerful and often cumbersome applications.
One application Google expects to have available is Cloud Printing, a system that presumably allows you to pick a printer anywhere to print your documents.
Google's Chrome requires users to have constant Internet contact and great faith in the security and performance of information and applications available online only.
Google says the first notebooks will be made by
Acer
and
Samsung
and are expected to be available mid-year 2011.
--Written by Scott Moritz in New York.>To contact this writer, click here: Scott Moritz, or email: scott.moritz@thestreet.com.To follow Scott on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/MoritzDispatch.>To send a tip, email: tips@thestreet.com.