The popular Google Chrome web browser may soon be available on smartphones running the company’s Android mobile operating system, Chromium Code reported recently reported.
The blog, which serves as a forum for the Chrome OS, reported that the development of the browser for Android-powered smartphones is underway and near completion. Currently, Android users’ web browser is a standard mobile app. However, as Google works to provide full integration of devices for its users, allowing Android users to run Chrome on their device is a logical next step.
Recombu, a consumer electronics review website, speculated that Google may be preparing to unveil Chrome for Android at its Google Episode event next week in San Diego. It has been widely reported that the company will unveil Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest iteration of Android, at the conference.
For marketers, Chrome for Android would make it easier to integrate mobile into web strategies, including SEO and search marketing. Since the desktop and mobile browsers would be, for the most part, identical, reformatting content or links for mobile would likely be unnecessary. With most mobile web browsers, pages lose some of their formatting and capability, because even the most advanced mobile devices are less powerful than desktop and laptop computers. With Chrome, Google’s cloud would handle a majority of the computing and transmit the data to the device.
Brafton reported that Android is currently the most frequently used mobile operating system in the U.S. While Apple’s iPhone is the most popular handset, Android’s availability on devices offered through every major mobile service provider has allowed it to reach its current numbers.
