Google Wants Chrome Apps on iOS & Android

Google’s pushed the web browser and the technology behind it for years, and even more since the invent of Chrome OS. Netflix has recently been a big company that’s been pushing HTML5 forward because they have to find a new way to stream their videos other than the Microsoft alternative to flash video. Facebook was another company that took up html and css in their web apps, but that never panned out because web technologies did not have enough features yet. Google wants to have Chrome apps work on iOS and Android, but be outside the browser. This would work like Chrome OS which has ‘apps’ but they work in their own window without tabs and look like native apps. The technology is based on open-source Apache Cordova, which uses HTML, CSS, and Javascript to power these web based apps.

Google is hoping to break this problem with apps coming out on iOS or Android first, and having everything based in the browser. So even the windows folks could get access to these new found applications. Pocket, the save it later reader has led their developers to build apps for almost every platform and they’ve done it beautifully. Now to cut down some of their work they could build a web based application and easily package a Chrome App natively for mobile platforms. This means build one app, package it for Android, Windows, iOS, and any other new mobile operating system in the matter of hours.

The API’s are open and developers have the tools to start building these mobile chrome apps. This sounds fantastic, but only if these apps can have the same features as their non-web based friends. HTML5 has pushed web technology forward greatly, but some things like video still have troubles. If companies like Google though keep pushing for web based apps we could see more features and better apps come to the surface.

It will be a win win for everyone when that happens. This means Chromebooks would have applications like Photoshop, games, and other tools all in the browser. The user won’t have to venture off the web ever again, but that does pose more problems. This means internet usage will go up, and right now there are not a lot of companies preparing for more usage. The internet is looking like it will move away from apps and move entirely on the web.

What do you think about Chrome apps on iOS and Android? Tell us in the comments below!

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