Remember when Chrome OS was announced? The first thing everyone asked was, wait, if this is Google's operating system aimed primarily at netbooks, what happens with all those fabled Android-based netbooks we were supposed to see this year?
Well, it seems we just got an answer, at least a part of it, as Asus has all but given up on developing an Android-based netbook. After showing off such a device at the Computex Taipei electronics show in June, Asus went oddly silent about it. Now, it got just a wee bit more official: "Currently, I still don't see a clear market for smartbooks," said Jerry Shen, CEO of Asustek Computer, at an investors' conference in Taipei.
It's not a bad thing, really. Fighting the same war on two fronts is rarely a good thing. Recently, we wrote about Microsoft's dual Windows Mobile strategy, noting that it's probably confusing for both developers and users. The same principle applies here: if Google wants to create a great OS for netbooks, it's going to be Chrome OS, so why bother turning Android - a solid mobile operating system - into something it's not?