Originally published 10/2011

Inside the PC World store in London, Google has opened a pop-up space designed for consumers to try out a new product, the Chromebook. This new technology is based on the idea of cloud computing, a hard sell for the masses without actually putting it in people’s hands. Think of the device as a netbook that wants to be a tablet. You get the benefits of a notebook, like a full physical keyboard, but the software is app based. The Chrome pop-up store lets consumers try out the technology that has generally only been sold through on-line retailers like Amazon and gives Google staff a new way to access consumers while measuring their responses.