Google is following Microsoft's lead, it's making Android available for mobile and the desktop, according to sources of the Wall Street Journal. Microsoft brought Windows its desktop OS to mobile with Windows 10. Google is doing the opposite, it brings its mobile Android OS to the desktop.
The Android version that incorporates Google's current desktop OS, Chrome OS, should see the light in 2017. An early version should be revealed next year already. Chrome OS currently powers Chromebooks, mainly low-end laptops that run the operating system on which pretty much everything happens in the browser.
By combing Android and Chrome OS, the mobile operating system should become ready for PCs. Chromebooks would get access to the large number of apps in the Play Store, currently it's already possible to run Android apps in the Chrome browser.
With the release of Android for desktops the name 'Chromebooks' will disappear according to the WSJ. Chrome would from then on only be used for Google's browser.
Microsoft is taking the same path. Its latest operating system Windows 10 runs both on desktops and mobile devices. Apple has recently announced it isn't planning to merge its desktop OS, OS X and its mobile OS, iOS.
