GOOGLE'S NEW Chromebook line of laptops, manufactured by Samsung and Acer, will go on sale next month, furthering the company's push into computer hardware.
The laptops, which run Google's Chrome operating system, will be available online from June 15th in the US, UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain, with more countries following in the coming months, Google said yesterday on its blog.
Google devised Chrome to be a faster, more internet-focused operating system, a bid to use its web-search leadership to challenge Microsoft's Windows and Apple's Mac software. Google, which first announced the Chrome OS in 2009, offered a test version of laptops with the software in December.
"We think users are really ready for this," said Sundar Pichai, a senior vice-president, at a presentation yesterday at Google's developer conference in San Francisco.
The Chromebooks, which start at $349, will rely mostly on applications delivered over the internet.
They also will be available for businesses at a cost of $28 a month a user, including software and support. For schools and students, the computers will be available for $20 a month a user. The devices rely on Intel's Atom chip.
Separately yesterday, it emerged that Google set aside $500 million related to the possible resolution of a US justice department investigation of its advertising business, resulting in lower first-quarter profit.
The expense trimmed net income to $1.8 billion, or $5.51 a share, in the period, Google said in a regulatory filing.
The company had reported first-quarter profit of $2.3 billion, or $7.04, on April 14th.
"Although we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this matter, we believe it will not have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows," Google said.
The US justice department is investigating the use of Google ads by "certain advertisers", Google said in the filing.
Google gets almost all its revenue from online advertising, which runs on its search engine and other sites, such as YouTube. Google faces an increasing array of scrutiny from regulators over its market leadership and handling of users' data.
The Federal Trade Commission is preparing an investigation of Google's dominance of the search industry and has alerted technology companies that it plans to gather information for the investigation, sources said last month. - (Bloomberg)
