Googlebook is proof Android still has an identity problem

I’ll be frank, Googlebook is an absolutely terrible name for Google’s new brand of Android-powered laptops. Not just because Google Books already exists as a search product people barely remember, but because it’s painfully dull and uninspired. Hardly the name I would have picked for a breakout product range designed to introduce Android power to the world of PCs.

Google might never have been a mastermind of brand power, but at least its previous entries have had some rhythm and rhyme. Pixel Buds, Pixel Slate, and the Pixelbook all made logical sense, aping the brand’s Pixel smartphone hardware to expand into new markets. Chromebook is a simple combination of Chrome OS and Apple’s popular MacBook moniker, making it pretty obvious what the product line set out to do. But what is a Googlebook?

I suppose branding discussions gravitated towards the Googlebook symbolizing a central device for all of Google’s latest and greatest services; the classic Drive/Workspace Chromebook is now combined with Gemini and more Android apps that leverage the best of Google’s AI and app ecosystems. “These laptops are more than just Android on a bigger screen” is perhaps the point Google wants to make. Even so, Googlebook hardly screams a groundbreaking new line blurring the lines between mobile and desktop in this expanding AI era. It sounds more like a no-doubt short-lived rival to Audible, but it also reflects lingering insecurity about Google’s mobile brand.

A more logical name, perhaps, would have been Androidbook. That hardly rolls off the tongue either, but it would at least have made it crystal clear to consumers that these are laptops powered by the world’s largest mobile operating system, and all the powerhouse tech that goes into it. However, I assume Google isn’t too keen to draw attention to the Android connection — the operating system didn’t even have a name during our press briefings — for the simple reason that the name has no real pull or mindshare.

Androidbook would have undoubtedly flopped in the US for the same reason Apple’s MacBooks continue to command obscene prices and consumers covet the iPhone’s “Blue Bubble” cred. Rightly or wrongly, Android is still too often seen as the budget, the second choice, and that’s not what you want in consumer minds when you’re trying to launch a wholesale revamp of your PC business segment.

Android still suffers from an unfair perception problem, especially in the US. At the same time, Google couldn’t realistically revive the Pixelbook brand for third-party hardware partners, even if 2019’s Pixelbook Go still has fans. GeminiBook might have been a good fit given the OS’s AI focus, but that’s another Google brand suffering from a lack of household identity. That probably left “Googlebook” as the safest option on the whiteboard.

It might seem like a rather dull complaint, but a good, catchy name can make or break a product. Google clearly has big ambitions by essentially replacing its successful Chromebook formula with a more powerful Android- and AI-backed OS, and that deserves something more unique. Tying itself to the -book cliche was probably the first mistake, but it just goes to highlight that even the biggest tech brands are far too comfortable living in Apple’s shadow. Even when Google has something unique on its hands that it presumably believes will redefine the laptop space, it’s unable to rise above banality for fear that no one will understand what it’s trying to do. Give us some credit.

Google clearly believes these laptops can redefine what Android looks like on larger screens. If that’s true, they deserve a name that sounds like it believes it too. Let’s hope the range speaks for itself when Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo products land this fall.