We’ve been desperately trying to limit our coverage of Chrome OS, given it is a) high on theory and b) more than a year away from commercial release, but that hasn’t stopped Acer pouring fuel on the fire…
DigiTimes reports the increasingly influential manufacturer will become the first company to launch a machine with Chrome OS, having lined up a model for H2 2010. Acer chairman JT Wang was the person to make this bold claim, but given the timescale it will be interesting to see if the company is prepared to ship a version of Chrome OS before it is officially out of beta.
Wang also didn’t elaborate on what specification the model would have, which means we don’t know if this would be a smartbook or netbook. The cloud-based, lightweight nature of Chrome OS does fit perfectly with the smartbook mission statement of always connected devices. That said, Acer has yet to yet to move beyond the simple Intel Atom-based netbook.
Acer isn’t afraid to take risks, however, since the ‘Aspire One D250′ (pictured) became the first netbook to ship running Google Android. Go on Acer, be brave!
Gordon
