In the first quarter of this year, for instance, Chromebooks topped Macs in overall shipments, resulting in Chrome OS becoming the number 2 most popular PC operating system in the country.
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“We’re adding Android apps to Chromebooks, which means users will be able to install the apps they know and love”, Google announced on the Android Developers Blog.
This development will enable Android apps to run on desktop as they would on a smartphone or tablet.
Chromebook owners will be now able to use the very same apps that they use on their Android phones or tablets on their Chromebooks. Users will also be able to bring their settings and app credentials from Android to the Chrome OS. That changes the Chromebook equation.
It’s all powered by a containerized Android framework that runs on top of the Chrome OS.
Rumors and speculation regarding one major new feature coming to Chrome OS and Chromebooks have been circulating for a bit of time now, and Google has finally made it official. Apps will be running on the latest version of Android, with the latest security patches, so users can ensure that their apps will stay secure, Liu said. Since Skype was previously unavailable on Chromebooks, this new feature could help users get it in an instant.
Google will open up functionality for developers in early June on the Chromebook Pixel (2015), Asus Chromebook Flip, and Acer Chromebook R11 before the wider public release this autumn.
According to The Verge, Chrome OS will get native support for Android app rather than just mirroring the data. Over time, this will roll out to other Chromebooks in the market too.
The team has also promised to launch new devices specifically designed for the Play Store.
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However, Liu said that developers never thought about fully offline-capable apps for Chromebooks. Specifically, preview 3 brings physical keyboard shortcuts for developers and Google states that launcher shortcuts will not be part of Android N.
