The “store for web apps” opened up to developers in August. And Chrome 8, which arrived Thursday, is the first version of Google’s browser with the ability to plug in to the Chrome Store — although, at this point, there’s nothing there yet to install.

It’s likely that could change Tuesday. Unless of course Google is going to start selling HTML5 Christmas ornaments or hardware-accelerated menorahs.

Engadget, citing an unnamed source, is speculating the event will be used to launch a laptop running Chrome OS. Of course, the event could see the arrival of both some hardware and the store you can browse to fill it up.

“Installable web apps” may sound like a contradiction in terms. After all, don’t web apps get served to a client from a web server? Well, yes, there’s that kind, and then there’s the kind you download and install. Google describes an installable web app as “a normal website with a bit of extra metadata.” The app is packaged, then downloaded and installed by the user, where it runs in the browser (online or off) and can access local storage.

The excitement around this new software-distribution model has of course exploded ever since the iTunes Store and the Android Marketplace proved it works well for native apps on mobile devices. Now others are shifting the model to cloud-based services built in web standards that run in the browser.

Mozilla, which makes the Firefox browser, is also developing its own store for installable web apps based on its nascent Open Web Applications platform.

Epicenter’s Ryan Singel contributed to this report.

See also:

• Chrome Web Store Is Now Open for Developers
• Chrome 8 Arrives
• Mozilla Shows Off Plans for an Open Web App Store

Authors: Michael Calore

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