Android and Chrome may come together

Google may be tightening the ties between its operating systems for mobile devices and PCs, but they won't be merging anytime soon, a senior member of one of Google's software teams said. In a wide-ranging interview at Google's corporate headquarters here, Brian Rakowski, Google's vice president of product management for Android, said that the two teams in charge of the Android mobile device software and the Chrome OS software for PCs work together much more. But that won't mean sweeping changes, at least for now.

Android and Chrome, both headed by Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai, are important businesses to Google. The company's cash cow is still search and advertising - now a $50 billion a year business - but Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page has called Android "the future" of the company.

There's good reason for his interest in Android. It has become the most widely used operating system in the world, powering more than 80 percent of the globe's smartphones. Chrome OS, a separate piece of software developed to power lightweight PCs, has a smaller presence; it made up only 2 percent of desktop computer shipments, though it has been popular among educators. The convergence of Android and Chrome OS would represent a significant, though not unexpected, shift for Google.