Samsung tipped to unveil Chrome OS device next week

Firm may launch netbook based on the Google operating system on 11 May

Samsung is to launch a mobile device based on Google's Chrome OS at an event to be held on 11 May to celebrate the search giant's I/O conference in San Francisco, according to a report today on the Telegraph web site.

Very much seen as Google founder Larry Page's baby, the Chrome OS is currently to be found on the experimental CR-48 laptop, which the firm made available free to developers and potential users late last year.

The CR-48 recieved a mixed reception from users, with Iain Thomson of Computing's sister web site V3.co.uk torn between admiration and confusion: "I've been using the CR-48 Chrome laptop for a while now and it's certainly an impressive system in a lot of ways. It's quick, responsive and looks fantastic... What I don't understand is the point of the thing. The operating system might make sense in a thin client mode but Google is positioning it as either a netbook system (at a time when that market is dying away) or as a tablet operating system (which Google already has in Android)."

With the Android OS going from strength to strength, Thomson is not alone in wondering where Chrome OS sits in Google's strategy. But such misgivings do not extend to Samsung, which as an official Google hardware partner has been known to be working on a Chrome OS netbook for some time.

The invite to Samsung's event on 11 May strongly hints that the wait for a shop-ready Chrome OS device from a major supplier may soon be over. It contains no product information as such, just the tease saying: “We wish we could tell you the details now but that wouldn’t be any fun.”

According to the Telegraph, a recent update to Chrome OS has introduced a number of features that should make devices based on the operating system more suitable for corporate use, including a much-requested file manager and improved access to virtual private networks.