Acer, one of the world’s largest suppliers of personal computers, said that despite recent rumours, it would not release a netbook with Google Chrome operating system (OS) next month. The move may signal two things: the Chrome OS is not yet ready for mainstream market and Acer’s major reconsideration of plans, e.g. to release a tablet instead of netbook.

“Despite recent rumours in the press regarding the launch of Chrome OS-based netbooks at Computex, Acer today confirms that it has no short-term plans for such a product. Acer believes that Google Chrome OS is without doubt an exciting product announcement and deserves it's full attention as well as an in-depth study of its potential from a consumers perspective,” a statement by Acer reads.

Google Chrome’s path to the market of personal computers does not seem to be easy. It is rather noteworthy, but while Samsung Electronics, a rival of Acer, was the first major company to promise to launch Chrome OS-based computer earlier this year, Google itself is only rumoured to start selling appropriate systems late in 2010.

Systems, which were supposed to be powered by Google Chrome OS, were meant to be smartbooks, e.g., use ARM architecture-based microprocessors; many of such machines were designed with Nvidia Tegra system-on-chip inside. However, the recent developments on the market of low-power computers made many system integrators to reconsider their plans and to release slate-type PCs instead of clamshell form-factor personal computers powered by ARM and/or Tegra. Recently ARM itself blamed Adobe for delay of smartbooks due to the fact that Adobe Flash is not supported on ARM microprocessors. Moreover, there are concerns about the cost of Google Chrome OS-based netbooks. All-in-all, there is no big surprise that Acer does not have plans to release Chrome OS-based devices in the short term.

“Acer is naturally interested in any product or service that enhances the overall experience of its products and will of course be following the development and progress of Google Chrome and the evolution of Google's overall product strategy very closely,” a statement of Acer concludes.

Tags: Acer, Google, Chrome, Tegra, Nvidia