I see it as Google's way to lock people in to the Chrome ecosystem. And they have quite a bit of pull and opportunity because of Drive and Android.
I do see the benefit of some apps (I love Pocket and Clearly). But in terms of usability, I have seen issues that haven't been sorted out yet, such as the interaction with Chrome Sign-In (on public computers, the app start pages start up every time you sign in). And I do think this focus on browser app development takes away some of the effort that should be done on the web itself.
I do see the benefit of some apps (I love Pocket and Clearly). But in terms of usability, I have seen issues that haven't been sorted out yet, such as the interaction with Chrome Sign-In (on public computers, the app start pages start up every time you sign in). And I do think this focus on browser app development takes away some of the effort that should be done on the web itself.