January 3rd, 2006
Introducing, The Google PC?
By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Was reading an article on the latimes website, called Industry Feeling Presence of the 800-Pound Google, and it made some predictions for 2006, one of which included Google selling cheap pc’s.
Google will unveil its own low-price personal computer or other device that connects to the Internet.
Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft’s Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap — perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.
Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and president of products, will give a keynote address Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Analysts suspect that Page will use the opportunity either to show off a Google computing device or announce a partnership with a big retailer to sell such a machine. Source: LATimes
We Say: Doesn’t sound like much of a stretch, we’ve talked before about them offering software over the internet, and this would be the perfect vehicle for it. They create the OS from Linux, of course, add some form of cheap internet access, or, at least make sure all of the big ones are already covered, AOL for example, make sure it has wireless and connects to most home routers easily, so people are online out of the box, barring setting any security options. Ethernet cards a very cheap, so adding one of those too would not raise the cost of the machine much, so people who are not on broadband could be very easily, especially if they include a special from, say, Verizon DSL with the PC. In the OS they would have all of the links to software programs such as Star Office that they are going to host, combine with a good flat screen and sell it at Wal-Mart for a few hundred bucks. Heck, I’d buy one just to check it out. I guess we’ll see if they announce anything good this Friday.
David Johnston says:
If they’re using their own OS I wonder what browser they’re going to use. I’m thinking it could be Firefox, but Opera and Google seem to be getting along nicely as of late too.
January 3rd, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Jimmy says:
Well, they are promoting and paying for the firefox installs with the google toolbar installed, so I would bet on that one, but one can never tell until it really happens.
January 3rd, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Mikey says:
Ubuntu?
January 3rd, 2006 at 1:42 pm
degustibus says:
“Ubuntu?”
You betcha.
(ooops wrong joke.)
January 3rd, 2006 at 3:15 pm
Denny says:
Personally, I think Google would be stepping in the wrong direction if they tried to enter the home pc market, or even the OS market. So many factors would go into a decision like that, not to mention that they would be butting heads with various companies. However, if they are going to start selling PC’s it better be able to wipe my rear and rinse it too, otherwise I just don’t see why I would need another Linux box. So what is Google’s new cube? (True Lies said it best…)
Do you know what this is?
I know what this is…
This is an espresso machine.
No, no wait. It’s a snow cone maker.
Is it a water heater?
January 3rd, 2006 at 3:55 pm
GeeksAreSexy says:
Hmmm, if they want to run Firefox on their own OS, they’ll probably have to use one of the numerous distribution of linux I guess, and customize it to their needs..
Let’s wait and see!
January 3rd, 2006 at 6:02 pm
GeeksAreSexy says:
Hmm, check this out: Google denies Google PC reports
http://news.com.com/2061-10812_3-6016821.html?part=rss&tag=6016821&subj=news
January 3rd, 2006 at 6:06 pm