Despite the fact that Google showed Windows 8 users how to "get your Google back" a few weeks ago, it sounds like the company won't put much support behind Microsoft's latest OS going forward. Speaking to V3, Google Apps product management director Clay Bavor said that "we have no plans to build out Windows apps." Bavor had some harsh words about the installed base for Windows on both the PC and on mobile, saying "we are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8." He did leave some wiggle room by noting that if the trends changed, "we would invest there, of course," but it sounds like Google hasn't exactly been blown away by what it has seen so far. There's also a chance that Google is getting tired of Microsoft's constant attack ads, though we'd be surprised if it stopped developing for Windows over some cheeky commercials.
Of course, Google has already invested a bit in the Windows 8 platform — its search app is native for the new OS and is available in the Windows Store, and there's also a Metro version of Chrome available. From the sound of things, that might be all Windows users get for some time. Instead, Bavor said that Google will continue focusing on its iOS and Android apps as well as its cloud-based offerings like Drive and Gmail. Still, it wouldn't surprise us to see Google do an about face eventually — while Windows 8 sales may not be as high as expected, we still wouldn't want to bet against Microsoft's new desktop OS achieving dominance sooner or later.
No comments:
Post a Comment