[Google] The Nexus S, Google eBooks, Google Wave Lives and Chrome OS

Google loves to surprise us - that much I've noticed over the course of the past few years. And man when it rains, it certainly pours!

First, they announced the release of Gingerbread, the latest flavor of the Android operating system along with the Nexus S, a Samsung-produced Google mobile phone that will herald this new OS release. And you thought it was all over when the Nexus One was discontinued, haha!




Introducing Nexus S

Second, Google finally announced the launch of the Google eBookstore. With over 3 million books, we now have an eBookstore that is not directly tied to any reader device and promises to share a lot of content that is no longer available in print.




Introducing Google eBooks

Then, the Google Wave folks announced that December 31 is NOT a drop-dead date for Google Wave. Sure, Google Wave is still a Google product without future support (hello Google Notebook!) but at least the domain will survive until Google figures out an alternative for all the Google Wave users out there (like me and my partner!). Plus the Apache Foundation has accepted Wave into its incubator for new products. Exciting times for us die-hard Google Wave geeks!

And today, we saw the official announcement of the Google Chrome OS, the world's first web-based computer operating system. And as alien as the concept is, the initial demonstrations look pretty amazing and the speed is a lot faster than some desktop setups. Imagine an OS that gets faster over time since it automatically upgrades itself and becomes better without the need to purchase upgrades.

And together with that they've officially opened the Google Chrome Web Store, the world's first open app store that lives independent of platforms. In means the benefits of apps as normally seen on iPhones and Android phones now on your desktop or anywhere you can run Google Chrome or Google Chrome OS.

Am I excited about all this? Of course I am! The continued success of Android is always a good thing. Google eBooks gives me access to more books without the need to get a Kindle or something. I still get to use Google Wave in 2011. And the Google Chrome OS together with the Chrome Web Store means new and exciting things for computing, netbook users like myself and a heck of a lot of other things.

And it's barely Wednesday - what else is Google giving us for Christmas this year?