Tech analyst Rob Enderle today (Dec. 1) penned an interesting column speculating on winners and losers if Google’s Chrome OS proves to be a big hit. Winners, according to Enderle, could include chip companies that back the ARM architecture, wireless carriers, cell phone app developers, and certain server companies. Losers could be hardware and software companies tied to the PC status quo.
As I read the column I had to keep reminding myself that this OS is still being worked on and won’t hit the market for another year. Enderle’s column is just one of many, many articles being written about the technical details, competitive implications, pitfalls and promises of a product that does not exist yet. Since Google unveiled some technical details of the OS last month, tech writers all over the world have picked up the pace, dissecting and analyzing each morsel of information.
In short, Chrome OS is literally being covered every day and from every angle. There have also been an avalanche of articles speculating on the existence of a Google phone. When it comes to free publicity, Google has entered a rarified world inhabited by only one other tech company: Apple.
There are dozens of Apple blogs dedicated to covering each and every aspect of current and future products. To say that Apple does not like this is the understatement of the year. (recall that Apple sued a student blogger several years back, demanding he reveal his sources. The influential blog, Think Secret, was eventually shut down as part of a plea agreement.)
By releasing details of products before they hit the market, Google (unlike Apple) can gain some semblance of control over the rumor mill. But the obsessive and often needless and redundant coverage of far-off products is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, writers can help create demand long in advance of a product’s release. When Google is part of that process, releasing early technical details as it has with Chrome OS, it can also help set expectations.
On the other hand, can the finished product ever equal the anticipation? And is the anticipation even real or the result of writers following the herd?
We here at smartbookblog.com have tried to temper our coverage of Chrome, despite its importance to the forthcoming smartbook market. Are we succeeding?
Lisa
