VJ Heaven

2000000! This is the iPad listed in the April 3 after a period of less than 60 days of sales. Apple announced through the official channels of sales of this proud achievement.Faced with such strong market demand, the major manufacturers have announced the launch of their Tablet PC

Dell’s Streak (top right), a 5-inch tablet powered by Android, launched Tuesday in the U.K. and the device will come to the U.S. later in the summer. Samsung announces Galaxy S Android ipad……
In the high-stakes race to catch Apple Inc.’s hit iPad, the Android operating system that Google Inc. popularized in tablet pc is emerging as an early front-runner. The Android tablets are coming and this time Apple won’t have a big head start.

The big difference with the Android ipad army is that the Apple iPad doesn’t have much of a head start. Apple’s iPhone had a few years on the first Android device. Google’s Android platform is growing quickly, but isn’t likely to catch the iPhone in terms of smartphone market share any time soon. Google’s Android will be a solid No. 3 in smartphones.

However, tablets are a different story. Apple’s iPad isn’t as expensive as originally thought, but it’s not going to be $199 any time soon. Android ipad will hit that price point. Just to reiterate: None of these Android devices are going to matter to Apple, which doesn’t sweat market share standings.

The big question is how long it takes an Android ipad equivalent to the HTC Droid Incredible to form. The Incredible is a solid iPhone rival, but Apple had a few years to establish the its smartphone before real rivals surfaced. The iPad is a big success, but will only have a head start of a quarter or two before Android tablets appear everywhere.

Can Android ipad reach feature parity on the iPad while squeezing Apple on price?

But when it comes to tablets, operating systems and applications may become even more important differentiators—just as software became a huge advantage for Apple with the iPhone.

“Without applications, the device itself means nothing,”said Barry Lam, chairman of the contract laptop manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc., during a recent investor conference.

Google’s Android operating system, as it did in smartphones, is emerging as the most potent alternative to Apple’s technology. “The tablet trend is clearly going toward Android,”said Jack Kang, director of technical marketing for Marvell Technology Group Ltd.

Android offers several attractions. Most of the 50,000 apps that have been written for cellphones that use the operating system should run in some fashion on Android-based tablets. Android also allows most programs to work even if manufacturers change the underlying chip architecture. And Google doesn’t charge companies for using it.

If anyone’s coming back from China, I hope they’re bringing back an Android iPad, as reported on Japanese TV news. This looks like the first iPadalike to go on sale, and a large part of its appeal is the low price ($158). However, I expect some rather more expensive devices will be shown at this week’s Computex trade show in Taiwan, starting with MSI’s Wind Pad 110, which has an ARM processor running Google’s Android mobile phone operating system. Acer, Dell and Lenovo are also tipped to enter the market at some point.

In July, Google Inc. had announced that it was working on an operating system for netbooks called Chrome operating system (OS) and it is reported that it is set to have a publicly available “stable release” by the second half of 2010. The new browser based operating system can be a competitive product for the software giant, Microsoft Corp, who needs to respond.

Recently, the company has demonstrated an early version of Chrome OS that features tabs for frequently used web-based apps and a 7 second boot up time. Further, Google has released the source code under open source licensing as Chromium OS. Now, various analysts suggest that the new Chrome OS will start a race to develop browser based operating systems like Internet Explorer OS, Firefox OS or even Opera OS.

Google Chrome Operating System

The company has stated that the Google Chrome Operating System project will be an open source by the end of 2009. Although, it is based on the Linux kernel, it will use “a new windowing system”. The Chrome Operating System is being targeted at users who spend most of their time on the Internet and is designed to run on computers ranging from netbooks to desktop computers.

Chrome Operating System concept

Various developers said that the concept behind browser based operating is simple, use enough Linux under the browser to run on modest hardware and you have a hit formula for the success. It is assumed that if Google can develop its Chrome OS in about two years, Microsoft, Firefox, etc, would be able to develop their own “browser based operating system” at the time when Google’s version arrives next year.

It seems that there are various customers for Chrome OS out in the market, which include Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Lenovo and Asus. Therefore, Microsoft, needs to respond, who holds the world’s operating system market with more than 90 percent share. Further, Firefox and Opera could also release their versions to retain their future market share and stand with the competition.

It is assumed that such browser based OS would support its parent’s own web-based productivity applications, but Firefox could be a spoiler as Microsoft and Google will head in proprietary directions. Developers said that if these browser based OSs have similar specifications like Google than users can have interchangeable operating systems in future, which can be carried on memory cards.

Mr. Sundar Pichai, Google’s VP of Product Management said that if any other browser maker wants to build their own version of the OS using their own browser, they can. It is assumed that Chrome OS is going to make computers cheaper. Analysts predict that there can be a drop of $100 per PC. Since the operating system will not involve any licensing fees and up gradation charges.

Conclusion

In spite of recent breakdown in Google services, the company has convinced people that their data is safe in the cloud, as their personal information is already up there. However, the company has not detailed that what apps can be run on the operating system. Can we run Photoshop on it and what are the applications changes to make Chrome OS a better choice than Windows? But we can say that only for self-defense, Redmond giant needs an alternative to Chrome OS to offer its customers.