The Google Speedbook: could that be the name for an own-branded Chrome OS hardware from the search giant? A newly unearthed trademark application suggests Google could be toying with a netbook/tablet equivalent of the Nexus One. Eric Schmidt previously implied Google wouldn’t offer its own Chrome OS hardware. Was he having us on?
Erik Sherman at BNET went nosing through the US Patent & Trademark Office database and uncovered an interesting tidbit: Google submitted a trademark application last week to grab the name Speedbook in the category “computer hardware”.
Rumours of a Google-branded Chrome OS netbook have been rattling around since last year. But Eric Schmidt seemed to shut them down last month when he told the Telegraph that it probably wouldn’t need to build its own netbook even though it tied up with HTC to create the Nexus One.
That may well be true but the trademark application does suggest that Google is at least considering building its own hardware. While patent applications don’t need to be tied to an actual product, nabbing a US trademark requires a link to a product or service.
Details of an HTC Google Chrome OS tablet have emerged recently. The trademark application could be tied to that product or even an entirely different device created by Agnilux, a hardware company that Google snapped up earlier this year.
Hit the comments and let us know what you think Google will do with that Smartbook trademark. Will it be the Google Chrome OS tablet we’ve been waiting for? Or is it just a bit of clever misdirection by Google?
Out TBC | £TBC | Google (via BNET)
