By now you have probably seen the WSJ report that says Google plans to fold its Chrome operating system into Android and phase it (and the “Chromebook” name) out over time. Google today published a story on virtually every blog it owns that denies this. “While we’ve been working on ways to bring together the best of both operating systems, there’s no plan to phase out Chrome OS,” Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s senior VP for Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast, writes today.

It’s no secret that Google has already added some Android features to Chrome OS over time. Indeed, you can already use a select number of Android apps on your Chromebook today.

Android is a big deal for Google. It is Google’s portal for the smartphone market, where it maintains a global dominance. It is also Google’s choice of operating system for newfangled computing platforms, like wearables and cars.

And it may soon eat away at the primary home of Google’s other operating system, Chrome.

Starting next year, the company will work with partners to build personal computers that run on Android, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans. The Chrome browser and operating systems aren’t disappearing — PC makers that produce Chromebooks will still be able to use Chrome. But they will now have the choice of Android. And its arrival suggests the supremacy of mobile inside Google, which has prioritized how to best handle the shift away from desktop across all its divisions.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the change.

Google has been taking baby steps in this direction for years. Even back in 2009, when they launched Chrome, co-founder emeritus Sergey Brin suggested the two systems may merge. The convergence momentum began two years ago when Sundar Pichai took the reins of both operating systems.

So, why now?
Scale

Google loves scale. It shutters products with user numbers that many companies would kill for (remember Reader?) because they don’t reach the billion-plus of its flagships. Chrome primarily lives on Chromebook devices. Gartner estimates Google will ship 7.9 million devices this year. Android, Google recently announced, crossed 1.4 billion users. Very different scale.

Despite some traction, Chromebooks are still a tiny slice of the market, and Google has faced difficulty corralling developers to build apps for it. It hasn’t had the same problem with Android.

Simplicity

For some time, Google has struggled to juggle both operating systems. (It’s still doing so on television, simultaneously running Android TV and Chromecast.) It’s expensive to maintain both and can be confusing for device makers.

Pichai likes streamlining. People who have worked with him describe a focus on simplifying Google’s products and historically Byzantine organization, an effort crystalized in a push for a uniform face on products for users and partners, what the company calls “One Google.”

However, a key advantage Chrome has is one of Android’s weaknesses. The mobile OS has suffered a nagging security issues, driven largely by its reliance on carriers and a gamut of device makers to push out updates. As an OS, Chrome is sturdier on security. That’s one reason Google may not ditch Chrome. Its security credentials help it with sales to enterprise, particularly to schools, where Chromebook has seen considerable traction; Gartner said the devices will account for 72 percent of the education market this year.

Google engineers have already been working on this transition for two years; the company expects to have a functioning preview next year, and a finished product in 2017. “The move is also an attempt by Google to get Android running on as many devices as possible to reach as many people as possible. The operating system runs phones, tablets, watches, TVs and car infotainment systems. Adding laptops could increase Android’s user base considerably.