Google plans to integrate its Chrome operating system into Android, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The company will reportedly launch the new hybrid operating system sometime in 2017, though we could see it unveiled as soon as its next I/O developer conference in 2016.
The Wall Street Journal goes on to note that this move has been a long time coming. For the past two years, Google engineers have been working to combine the two systems, though apparently they achieved a breakthrough only recently. Interestingly, the timeframe given by the WSJ suggests this initiative was likely spearheaded by Sundar Pichai, Google’s current CEO, because it was about two years ago that he was assigned to manage the company’s Android and Chrome OS divisions.
The decision to fold Chrome OS into Android likely stems from the fact that Google wishes to get its money making services like Search on as many devices as possible. Chrome OS, with its small footprint in the personal computer market, has little chance of helping the company achieve that goal.
Still, this may not be the end of Chrome OS, as Google will reportedly maintain some open source version of it that other companies will be able to install on their devices.
Image courtesy of Flickr user etnyk.
[source]The Wall Street Journal[/source][via]The Verge[/via]
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