Google Inc. previewed the first laptops running the company's Chrome operating system, machines that will go on sale next month as part of the Internet giant's challenge to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows franchise.
The computers, unveiled at a Google conference for software developers in San Francisco, are dubbed "Chromebooks" and use operating-system software that is based largely on Google's Chrome Web browser.
Google will start selling $349 Chrome-based laptops in June. One feature that's caught gamers' attention: Angry Birds will now be playable on the Chrome browser, DJ Newswires' Ian Sherr reports.
The first models will be manufactured by Acer Inc. at a price of $349 and Samsung Electronics Co. starting at $429. They will be sold starting June 15 through retailers like Best Buy Co. and Amazon.com Inc.
Google won't make money from sales to individuals but expects to get an undisclosed cut from selling $28-a-month subscriptions to corporate customers and $20-a-month plans for educational institutions and governments. The plans, which come with a three-year term, include the laptops and customer support from Google.
The move, more than two years in the making, comes at a time that sales of laptops, especially small, low-priced netbooks, have been pressured by rising interest in touchscreen tablets like Apple Inc.'s iPad.
The Google-based laptops are designed primarily to run Web-based applications, including word-processing and games, as Google hopes to shift software development away from applications anchored to PC operating systems such as Windows. Besides individuals, chromebooks are aimed at corporate and government markets; Google officials said they would help institutions cut IT budgets by storing data on the Web, a concept called cloud computing.
"The complexity of managing your computers is really torturing users out there, and that's a flawed model," said Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, at a press briefing on Wednesday. "Chromebooks are a new model that doesn't put the burden of managing your computer on yourself," adding that "companies who don't use that model I don't think will be successful."
Sundar Pichai, the senior vice president that oversees the Chrome effort, said the battery in Acer's version of the product lasts more than six hours while Samsung's lasts eight hours. Other manufacturers, including Toshiba Corp. are also building devices running the software, Google has said.
Because they rely on Web-based apps, the Chrome devices boot up in eight seconds, the company said. The laptops will have limited capability when users aren't online, though some Web apps including Google Docs, the company's word-processing service, and Rovio Mobile Ltd.'s Angry Birds game, can function on Chrome offline.
To ensure that Chrome laptops always stay online, Google said Verizon Wireless will provide free wireless Internet connectivity—allowing users to send and receive up to 100 megabytes of data a month. Users will have to pay extra for bigger monthly data plans.
Google executive Sundar Pichai unveiled Chrome-based laptops Wednesday. Prices start at $349.
Google's search engine is built into the Chrome browser so distribution of the operating software will help maintain Google's core business of selling ads alongside Web-search results. Mr. Pichai said more than 160 million people now use Chrome as their main browser, up from 70 million a year ago.
In targeting the corporate IT market, Google plans combine Chromebooks with Google Apps, which is a suite of online software such as its email product Gmail and Google Docs, among others, that compete directly with Microsoft's Office suite of programs. Google charges $50 per year per corporate user of Google Apps.
As with Android, which also showcases Google's search engine, Chrome is hoping to entice software developers to create Web apps that would be available for free or for purchase from Chrome's Web Store of applications. The store already includes apps from news organizations and game makers such as Electronic Arts Inc., among others. The apps make use of the latest browser technology to offer richer graphics, among other things.
Some of the Chrome apps are free while others are available for a fee. The company on Wednesday repeated its promise to take just 5% of revenue generated by app developers, less than the typical 30% that developers must give up for revenue generated through Android and Apple Inc.'s mobile app stores.
Write to Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com
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