A patent application recently filed by Google suggests that there may be plans in the works to bring the Android operating system to desktop and notebook computers. The new patent is one of several recent filings that suggest that Android will be making the jump from phones and tablets to computers.
As reported by Patently Apple, the patent details some of the ways in which the touchscreen controls already present in the Android operating system could be matched to a multi-touch trackpad, not unlike the kind found in Apple’s Magic Trackpad and their MacBook computers.
There have been hints recently that Google may be planning to unify their two operating systems, Android and Chrome OS. The recent release of the Chrome browser for Android may have been an indication of such a merger, as are rumors of tablets designed to run Chrome OS. At the same time, rumors concerning the next major Android release, Android 5.0 Jelly Bean, have suggested that Android tablets may be getting the capacity to dual-boot Android and Chrome OS.
Of course, as with all patent filings, this doesn’t mean that we should expect to start seeing computers running Android on retailer shelves any time soon. Nevertheless, Google is definitely looking at bringing Android into the computer market. The move makes sense in a lot of ways, so we can probably expect to see more information on this in the coming months.
What do you think? Would you by an Android laptop? And Android desktop? Let us know in the comments.
