In the past three months Google has been stepping up its strategy to be an enterprise technology player and the launch of its Chrome Remote Desktop mobile app for Android is its latest push to becoming more than a consumer vendor.
The remote desktop tool, announced Wednesday, April 16, lets Android device users access any PC or mobile computing device in a secure fashion no matter where they are. For road warriors using Android devices it's a neat and handy tool. All users have to do is download the app on all their computing devices and on the Android device, open the app and tap on the devices to connect. Google promises an iOS app will be arriving shortly.
"Have you ever been out and about, and urgently needed to access a file that's sitting on your home computer? Since 2011, Chrome Remote Desktop has let you remotely access your machine from another laptop or computer in a free, easy and secure way. And now, with the release of the Chrome Remote Desktop app for Android, we're making it possible for you to do the same thing from your Android device," states the Google blog. The app is free at Google Play.
The new app reflects Google's strategy to become an enterprise technology provider. It arrives shortly after Google announced a deal with VMware in February to give Chromebooks access to Windows applications, data and other pertinent information over the cloud.
Just weeks before the VMware deal, Google debuted a new $999 Chromebox for the business meeting setting called Chromebox for Meetings. The $999 device features Vidyo and UberConference. Google's VP Product Management Caesar Sengupta stated he hopes it "will transform meetings and meeting rooms. When you think of a meeting room, they have looked the same for the last 25 years."
