Google Confirms Touch in Chrome OS?

Google's operating system may feature touch support.

TechRadar reports that Anders Sandholm, Senior Product Manager of Search at Google, spilled the beans in regards to touch support in the Chrome operating system. During a conference at Google's London headquarters, Sandholm was unable to avoid a direct question about touch support without revealing a few details in the process.

Chuckling nervously, he at first said that he couldn't say anything at all. But then he reluctantly gave in after tossing the PR associate a quick glance.

"Right now we are targeting netbooks [with Chrome OS],” he said. “That's what we're focused on, but I expect it to work well. We expect it to target everything up to desktop computers.” He also added that Chrome OS will be built for a specific hardware setup.

Sandholm confirmed that the first devices to use the Chrome OS at launch will be netbook-based, however he also mentioned that Google is still in negotiations with OEMs. According to TechRadar, Chris Dibona, Head of Open Source at Google, was said to be in talks with Asus, Acer, HP and possibly MSI. There's also rumors that HTC is testing a Chrome OS tablet, while others say that the official Google netbook will have a 10.1-inch multi-touch screen.

Although an early version of Chrome OS is currently available to download and test, the final product isn't expected to officially launch until sometime later this year.

Recently Google released images and a video of a concept tablet running Chrome--both are covered in Jane's article here.