Google announced that it has successfully collaborated with four high-profile app makers to allow their Android apps to land on Chrome OS-powered Chromebooks. These would include Vine (video-looping app), Sight Words (children's literacy system app), Evernote (productivity app) and Duolingo (language -learning app).
Google says that it's collaborating with a "select group" of developers who could deliver more Android apps in the next couple of months.
The new apps are all part of the Chrome inspired project dubbed as "App Runtime for Chrome (Beta)." Except for the Sight Words app, all the other apps are deemed heavy hitters and have dedicated, well-established websites. This means that users of Chrome OS already had access to them through their browsers.
In June, the personal magazine app Flipboard had been demoed, which led everyone to speculate that it's landing sooner or later on Chromebooks as well.
Through the project, Android aims to eliminate the porting of any apps or services which are not found in the Chrome Web Store. When the Android apps are allowed to run in Chrome akin to other Chrome apps, the Chromebook users and app developers would be free from modifying or porting the apps. Developers are still given the liberty to optimize for the platform whenever they want to. This way, both users and developers can take full advantage of the Chrome OS store without worrying about any issues.
Google is encouraging users to suggest their favorite app which they want to have a Chrome makeover.
Chromebooks have been designed to be an invaluable device for users who are always on the go. "They're thin and light, have long battery lives, resume instantly, and are easy to use," said by the company on the official Chrome blog. "Today, we're making Chromebooks even more mobile by bringing the first set of Android apps to Chrome OS."
The only danger of bringing Android apps to Chrome is that the apps deliver a more fragmented experience for Mac and Chrome for Windows as both don't support Android apps. Google should be able to place more major developers on board in order for users to have an enhanced app experience in their Chromebooks, dismissing the notion that they are a little more than a Web browser.
An Android app on Chrome can also manipulate some of the API devices such as the Camera API. This would enable core functions to carry over. One example is the Vine app's ability to capture a video.
The porting of Android Apps on Chromebooks is a result of Google's huge investment of time to build systems that would allow initially Chrome-bound Web apps to function on Android, eliminating the need to switch between the two OS.
