Once again, I’m on a trip to Asia, this time supporting ARM’s Asia Technical Symposiums. The excitement for ARM computing devices is global but here in Asia it is intense with products coming from Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan. July’s announcement of Chrome OS created a real buzz out here; getting to the details of what Chrome OS is and how it will be delivered is on eveyone’s mind so on Thursday Google lifted the veil on the Chrome OS, provided detailed information on what the Chrome OS is and how the development will work (See here for more information).

For ARM this is very exciting news, here is how we see the impact:

• It truly levels the playing field for platforms. For the most part today, the OS and HW are closely connected and this drove platforms that slowly innovated. Chrome OS blows this apart, the OS is the browser, which makes the hw irrelevant since applications are written in HTML5 and Javascript they run on the browser without hw ties. Wow … coming from a company that builds CPUs that should worry me … NOT! What will be valued are low power, innovation, differentiation, and cost and with over 200 licensees and a CPU architecture built from the ground up to enable low-power solutions we are in a very sweet place. Competition is good especially where there was little before. Check plus for ARM.
• It is an internet computer stupid – This works great for ARM. With the roll-out of Flash Player 10.1 for ARM we have removed the last major barrier for full internet support on ARM. The smartbooks, tablets, eReaders that will start rolling out early next year will have full internet support. Most of the new SoC (System-on-Chip) from our partners are excellent candidates for the Chrome OS and I expect there will be a lot of work put in so they can take full advantage of the special features on their SoCs. All will be based on ARM Cortex-A8, Cortex-A9, or using ARM’s v7 Architecture License like devices from Qualcomm and Marvell. When Chrome OS releases late 2010 there will be a large number of platforms that can take advantage of the new OS.
• Open Source Development – ARM applauds Google for this approach. Releasing development code and having it in the open will have its challenges because anyone can develop and release a product before the Chrome OS is finished … I fully expect to see devices with Alpha and Beta code being sold. That said, having a large body of developers testing and enhancing the work would just make for a better OS. For ARM, this will greatly help the way ARM’s partners develop and contribute to the quality of the Chrome OS. It will also give the ARM community focus on what is important. ARM is working with the Google OS team to help facilitate leveraging the ARM community.
• Customization – Not everyone or company wants to have their device look alike, just look at all the netbooks for sale at your favorite store and you see they all look alike. Where is the creativity, differentiation with color? Wow. With the Chrome OS you will not be locked down to the same looking HW platform and UI. That gives a lot of room for companies to develop products that meet what they think their customers want. That will mean innovation and opportunity that makes the smartphone industry thrive. Darwinism at its finest!

I fully expect by the time I get back to US in time for Thanksgiving (I am connecting through Newark to Austin on Wednesday) there will ports of the Chrome OS showing up and by the time of CES we will probably have, something bantered around. Google has kicked off a firestorm that I fully expect to spread to the global level. Moreover, it is just in time for ARM as all our partners rollout their new SoCs and the innovation machine kicks off. It is going to be a fun 2010.


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Bob Morris, Director of Mobile Computing, ARM, is fascinated with the rapid changes that are shaking the mobile and computing worlds. After missing grabbing the golden computing ring with PowerPC and Mac-clones, Bob is glad to have a front row seat in what is shaping up as the first major change in the computing industry in 30 yrs.

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