Google reveals Chrome hardware partners

chrome on netbooks?

Acer, Asus and HP are among the tech firms Google has said it has partnered with to bring out devices using its Chrome operating system.

Announcing the OS yesterday, Google said the first version of Chrome would be for netbooks. Google promised devices would hit shelves by the second quarter of next year, as hardware makers had already signed on to the project.

Aside from netbook-makers Acer, Asus and HP, Google said it is already working with Freescale, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Toshiba - as well as software maker Adobe, which is currently developing a line of online office applications.

The post suggested there may be more firms that have partnered up to use Chrome, but one notable absence commentators have highlighted is Dell.

"The Google Chrome OS team is currently working with a number of technology companies to design and build devices that deliver an extraordinary end user experience," said a post on the Chrome blog by vice president of product management Sundar Pichai and engineering director Linus Upson - find out why Google may be focusing on netbooks here.

The post also noted that any software engineers wanting to work for Google developing the Chrome OS should keep an eye on their job listings.

Click here to find out if Chrome will be bad for Linux.