Chrome OS is here to stay, Google blog emphatically states
In fact, Google will have "dozens" of new Chromebooks in 2016, according to an Official Google for Work blog titled "Chrome OS is here to stay" that was posted by Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president of Android and Chrome OS.
"While we've been working on ways to bring together the best of both [Android and Chrome] operating systems, there's no plan to phase out Chrome OS," he wrote. On Friday, he had tweeted, "there's a ton of momentum for Chromebooks and we are very committed to Chrome OS."
Apparently the tweet alone wasn't enough to reassure alarmed fans that there was a future for the Chrome OS, after a Wall Street Journal article seemed to imply otherwise.
The blog confirmed at least in part what many have long known: That Google engineers have been developing some combination of the two operating systems, without offering any details. The blog didn't confirm, for example, that a single, combined OS would be unveiled in 2017, as described by unnamed sources in the Journal story posted last week.
Lockheimer instead related the successes of the Chrome OS, first launched six years ago, including that 30,000 new Chromebooks running the OS are activated everyday in U.S. classrooms.
The Asus Chromebit, described as a device "that turns any display into a computer" and was first introduced March 31, will be available in two weeks for $85, he added.
"Chromebooks keep getting better over time," he wrote. "Stay on the lookout for dozens of new Chromebooks in 2016."