So here’s the deal, Android and Chrome are both from Google but Android has its own web browser, which is not Chrome, but the two browsers share some codes. It’s a curious affair, but one would only expect Google Chrome to be the standard offering on mobile devices, now that both initiatives are coming into their own.  You see how anxious Google is to integrate Google+ across its Apps.  Shouldn’t the same be true for Chrome’s platform as well? Now it appears that Google will be releasing new software that enables developers to build a mobile browser for Android, based on its existing open source platform.  And it’s name is likely going to be Chromium.

Confused?  I am too.

But, Google is clearly making a move to integrate or bring the two together to make it easier for users and developers, and hopefully to also put all these confusing issues to rest.  For mobile, it means we’ll see a focus on the browser instead of just the app, which is a perspective that’s gaining support across the mobile industry.  Google’s got a foothold in several different sectors across the mobile and web fronts, and finding more ways to bridge the two is an important aspect of Google’s future.

When it comes to things like the Chrome OS, Google’s already settled on netbooks as a device driver for promoting this technology, with the Chrome platform already earning the support of a blossoming developer community anxious for more ways to leverage existing Google Applications.

And we’ve seen indications of this type of integration for some time.  In a post on the Chromium Blog, Google is aiming to bring Android Intents to the web with Web Intents.  The Android Intents is a facility for late run-time binding between components in the same or different applications.  In the Intents system, the client application requests a generic action, e.g. share, and specifies the data to pass to the selected service application. The user is given a list of applications which have registered that they can handle the requested intent. The user-selected application is created in a new context and passed the data sent from the client, the format of which is predefined for each specific intent type.

“Consider an online photo storage site run by a cash-strapped startup: the developers don’t have the resources to add image editing abilities to their app, but they feel the site won’t be a hit without it. The Web Intent system will make it easy for them to offer this with little effort.”

Google’s Chromium Team is also working with Mozilla to create a standardized API to make web-based software act like stand-alone apps.  With Web Intents, a set of generic commands can integrate with any compatible web apps.  This will also benefit developers as only a few lines of codes will be needed to enable the features.