After months of silence, Google is rapidly pushing its Linux-based Android mobile platform towards the finish line in preparation for a big fourth quarter launch. The recent SDK beta release offers a compelling look into what users can expect to see on upcoming Android hardware, but it left one critical question unanswered: how will third-party developers get their software onto end-user handsets?
Until Chrome came along, Google's Master Mobile Plan didn't quite add up. Now it does. Chrome -- Google's new superbrowser -- is cream on the top of a new mobile software stack. Let's call it GACL, for Gears, Android and Chrome on Linux. Gears is a way to run Web apps on desktops and store data locally as well as in the cloud. Android is a development framework for Linux-based mobile devices. Chrome is a browser, but not just for pages. Chrome also runs apps. In that respect, it's more than the UI-inside-a-window that all browsers have become. It's essentially an operating system.