Google has made an important announcement and it’s in relation to Chromebooks finally supporting Android apps and the Google Play Store.
Advertisement
“Schools in the United States are now buying more Chromebooks than all other devices combined – and in Q1 of this year, Chromebooks topped Macs in overall shipments to become the #2 most popular PC operating system in the U.S.”, the company explained, citing the IDC’s latest statistics. Chromebook-using businesses used to be limited to the confines of Google Apps for their enterprise applications, but with Play Store apps now supported on Chromebooks, they can now bring their Microsoft Office apps for Android into their Chromebooks.
Users will be able to just click on the Play Store icon on their Chromebook dock and search for apps exactly like they would on an Android. Users will also be able to bring their settings and app credentials from Android to the Chrome OS. Chrome OS is a neat idea but the web was never created to be offline. To be fair, it has even excluded its own original Chromebook Pixel 2013 model, which includes a touch screen display (useful for Android), from the support list.
To run Android apps, Chrome OS will need to be upgraded.
However, beyond the apparent advantages that come bundled with the Chromebook also came a dearth of apps. These PCs will get Google Play access and therefore be able to run Android apps.
While not announcing a specific release date, YouTube did say that its new VR app would be released later this year. All you can be sure about is to access all Play Store apps on Chrome OS. In addition to making Chromebooks more powerful, the new feature has the potential to take Google’s growing software out of the niche and into the mainstream.
Advertisement
Does support for Android apps on Chrome OS make you interested in getting a new Chrome OS device? Let’s wait to know if there are any additional hidden features in the new Android N OS.
