If Britain's Sunday Times is to be believed, Google is aiming its forthcoming Chrome OS at tablets, rather than trying to expand Android out into a tablet-sized computing OS.
The newspaper (which unfortunately is only available online behind a paywall) quoted Samsung UK as saying that its forthcoming Galaxy Tab will initally ship with Android 2.2, but that it will later be upgradeable to Chrome OS. (Check out our picture gallery of the delicious-looking Galaxy Tab.)
Unfortunately, The Times did not name the person who disclosed the information -- or whether it was an official position by Google/Samsung, or more something that software tinkerers would be able to do if they wanted to.
Google has, however, said that it does not consider the current release of Android, 2.2, "ready for tablets".
Froyo is not optimised for use on tablets," Google's Hugo Barra, director of mobile products, told TechRadar in the UK earlier this month.
"If you want Android market on that platform, the apps just wouldn't run, [Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor," he said.
Chrome OS is slated for release before Christmas, and HTC apparently has a Chrome OS tablet due for release in November, which adds credence to the rumour that Google is pushing tablet manufacturers towards Chrome OS rather than Android.
What do you think? We haven't to date seen many live demonstrations of Chrome OS recently so it's hard to assess the veracity of the claims. However, you can check out some recent user-contributed builds of Chrome OS at Hexxeh.net and if you're brave, download it yourself and install it on a Live USB key to check it out on your computer. If you ask us, it doesn't look ideally touch-optimised yet, when put alongside Apple's iOS.