Google said in May 2016 that select Chromebooks--laptops built entirely around its Chrome browser--would support apps originally made for Android devices. Now the company has updated the list of devices gaining access to the Google Play marketplace to include every Chromebook debuting in 2017.
Chromebooks were built with the belief that many consumers don't need high-power computers. Most people want to be able to handle some documents, listen to music, and dilly-dally on social networks. All of those things can be accomplished through a web browser, so Google turned its Chrome browser into a bona fide operating system manufacturers could use to make low-end laptops at even lower prices. Voila! A platform was born.
It didn't take long for Chromebooks to grow popular. The NPD research group said in August 2015 that Chromebooks helped keep overall PC and tablet sales in the business-to-business market from tumbling in the preceding quarters. IDC analyst Linn Huang said in May 2016 that Chrome OS devices (Chromebooks and their desktop counterparts) outsold Apple computers for the first time in the beginning of the year. Chromebooks were getting hot.
Yet they weren't perfect. A laptop that relies on the web is only as reliable as the internet connection between the two. People can use Chromebooks to edit documents, look at photos, or watch videos without an internet connection, but the devices are still far more hamstrung by a lack of connectivity than a traditional laptop would be. The devices were also limited in their ability to work with Microsoft Office documents, which are still ubiquitous despite competition from Google and other companies, or with software that isn't available online.
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