Google Clears Up Statement About First-Party Chromebooks, Says They Aren't "Dead"

A few days back, Google senior vice president for hardware Rick Osterloh made news when he seemed to suggest that Google was done with its line of Pixel Chromebooks. He told reporters at MWC that Google didn't have any plans to produce a new one, which isn't encouraging to those who were hoping to see Google continue to release laptops of its own. Even worse was the fact that he said Google didn't have any plans to replenish the stock of the current Pixel Chromebooks, which are sold out on Google's store.

These factors indicated to TechCrunch that Google might be calling it quits on producing first-party Chromebooks. In the time since that article was published, however, Osterloh has come forward in an attempt to clarify a few things. Namely, he says that Google laptops aren't dead – just that Google doesn't have anything to announce for now.

So, while Google's Pixel Chromebooks may not be six feet under at the moment, we can't exactly count them among the living either. In a tweet sent out today, Osterloh assures that Google's first-party Chromebook hardware will "live on" before noting that his company has "no plans to share at this time." His tweet ends with ";)" which could suggest that an announcement is in the pipeline.

Honestly, it's hard to tell at this point. Osterloh's original statement seemed non-committal and a little hesitant, and this new tweet doesn't help with the confusion much. Is Google working on a new Pixel Chromebook or aren't they? If they aren't, is there any chance of the current Chromebooks being replenished on the Google Store? Your guess is as good as ours.

Even if Google decides it doesn't want to move ahead with Chromebooks of its own, they still seem to be flourishing. As time goes on, an increasing number of third-party Chromebooks are getting access to the Google Play Store and, by extension, Android apps, which makes this an exciting time to be a Chromebook user. We'll keep an ear to the ground to see if Google makes any new announcements about its first-party Pixel Chromebooks, so stay tuned.

SOURCE: Rick Osterloh