diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/runtime_compiler.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/runtime_compiler.ts
index 850fcc7665..2766302859 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/runtime_compiler.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/runtime_compiler.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import {
   IS_DART,
   Type,
   isBlank,
+  isString
 } from '../src/facade/lang';
 import {BaseException} from '../src/facade/exceptions';
 import {
@@ -49,7 +50,12 @@ export class RuntimeCompiler implements ComponentResolver {
               private _viewCompiler: ViewCompiler, private _xhr: XHR,
               private _genConfig: CompilerConfig) {}
 
-  resolveComponent(componentType: Type): Promise<ComponentFactory<any>> {
+  resolveComponent(component: Type|string): Promise<ComponentFactory<any>> {
+    if (isString(component)) {
+      return PromiseWrapper.reject(new BaseException(`Cannot resolve component using '${component}'.`), null);
+    }
+
+    let componentType = <Type>component;
     var compMeta: CompileDirectiveMetadata =
         this._metadataResolver.getDirectiveMetadata(componentType);
     var hostCacheKey = this._hostCacheKeys.get(componentType);
diff --git a/modules/@angular/core/src/linker/component_resolver.ts b/modules/@angular/core/src/linker/component_resolver.ts
index c13ae4570f..3a44b20a1c 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/core/src/linker/component_resolver.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/core/src/linker/component_resolver.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import {Type, isBlank, stringify} from '../../src/facade/lang';
+import {Type, isBlank, isString, stringify} from '../../src/facade/lang';
 import {BaseException} from '../../src/facade/exceptions';
 import {PromiseWrapper} from '../../src/facade/async';
 import {reflector} from '../reflection/reflection';
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import {Injectable} from '../di/decorators';
  * can later be used to create and render a Component instance.
  */
 export abstract class ComponentResolver {
-  abstract resolveComponent(componentType: Type): Promise<ComponentFactory<any>>;
+  abstract resolveComponent(component: Type|string): Promise<ComponentFactory<any>>;
   abstract clearCache();
 }
 
@@ -20,12 +20,16 @@ function _isComponentFactory(type: any): boolean {
 
 @Injectable()
 export class ReflectorComponentResolver extends ComponentResolver {
-  resolveComponent(componentType: Type): Promise<ComponentFactory<any>> {
-    var metadatas = reflector.annotations(componentType);
+  resolveComponent(component: Type|string): Promise<ComponentFactory<any>> {
+    if (isString(component)) {
+      return PromiseWrapper.reject(new BaseException(`Cannot resolve component using '${component}'.`), null);
+    }
+
+    var metadatas = reflector.annotations(<Type>component);
     var componentFactory = metadatas.find(_isComponentFactory);
 
     if (isBlank(componentFactory)) {
-      throw new BaseException(`No precompiled component ${stringify(componentType)} found`);
+      throw new BaseException(`No precompiled component ${stringify(component)} found`);
     }
     return PromiseWrapper.resolve(componentFactory);
   }
diff --git a/modules/@angular/core/test/linker/reflector_component_resolver_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/core/test/linker/reflector_component_resolver_spec.ts
index 5de99dcba2..f143088e8a 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/core/test/linker/reflector_component_resolver_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/core/test/linker/reflector_component_resolver_spec.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,15 @@ export function main() {
                return null;
              });
        }));
+
+    it('should throw when given a string',
+       inject([AsyncTestCompleter, ComponentResolver], (async, compiler: ComponentResolver) => {
+         compiler.resolveComponent("someString")
+             .catch((e) => {
+               expect(e.message).toContain("Cannot resolve component using 'someString'.")
+               async.done();
+             });
+       }));
   });
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/src/metadata/metadata.ts b/modules/@angular/router/src/metadata/metadata.ts
index fc6263c648..f282b7f3ea 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/src/metadata/metadata.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/src/metadata/metadata.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import {stringify} from "../facade/lang";
  */
 export abstract class RouteMetadata {
   abstract get path(): string;
-  abstract get component(): Type;
+  abstract get component(): Type|string;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ export abstract class RouteMetadata {
  */
 export class Route implements RouteMetadata {
   path: string;
-  component: Type;
-  constructor({path, component}: {path?: string, component?: Type} = {}) {
+  component: Type|string;
+  constructor({path, component}: {path?: string, component?: Type|string} = {}) {
     this.path = path;
     this.component = component;
   }
diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/src/recognize.ts b/modules/@angular/router/src/recognize.ts
index 2ff87ce806..a3ecf73252 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/src/recognize.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/src/recognize.ts
@@ -9,18 +9,18 @@ import {DEFAULT_OUTLET_NAME} from './constants';
 import {reflector} from '@angular/core';
 
 // TODO: vsavkin: recognize should take the old tree and merge it
-export function recognize(componentResolver: ComponentResolver, type: Type,
+export function recognize(componentResolver: ComponentResolver, rootComponent: Type,
                           url: UrlTree): Promise<RouteTree> {
-  let matched = new _MatchResult(type, [url.root], {}, rootNode(url).children, []);
+  let matched = new _MatchResult(rootComponent, [url.root], null, rootNode(url).children, []);
   return _constructSegment(componentResolver, matched).then(roots => new RouteTree(roots[0]));
 }
 
-function _recognize(componentResolver: ComponentResolver, parentType: Type,
+function _recognize(componentResolver: ComponentResolver, parentComponent: Type,
                     url: TreeNode<UrlSegment>): Promise<TreeNode<RouteSegment>[]> {
-  let metadata = _readMetadata(parentType);  // should read from the factory instead
+  let metadata = _readMetadata(parentComponent);  // should read from the factory instead
   if (isBlank(metadata)) {
     throw new BaseException(
-        `Component '${stringify(parentType)}' does not have route configuration`);
+        `Component '${stringify(parentComponent)}' does not have route configuration`);
   }
 
   let match;
@@ -32,13 +32,13 @@ function _recognize(componentResolver: ComponentResolver, parentType: Type,
 
   let main = _constructSegment(componentResolver, match);
   let aux =
-      _recognizeMany(componentResolver, parentType, match.aux).then(_checkOutletNameUniqueness);
+      _recognizeMany(componentResolver, parentComponent, match.aux).then(_checkOutletNameUniqueness);
   return PromiseWrapper.all([main, aux]).then(ListWrapper.flatten);
 }
 
-function _recognizeMany(componentResolver: ComponentResolver, parentType: Type,
+function _recognizeMany(componentResolver: ComponentResolver, parentComponent: Type,
                         urls: TreeNode<UrlSegment>[]): Promise<TreeNode<RouteSegment>[]> {
-  let recognized = urls.map(u => _recognize(componentResolver, parentType, u));
+  let recognized = urls.map(u => _recognize(componentResolver, parentComponent, u));
   return PromiseWrapper.all(recognized).then(ListWrapper.flatten);
 }
 
@@ -52,23 +52,23 @@ function _constructSegment(componentResolver: ComponentResolver,
                             matched.consumedUrlSegments[0].outlet;
 
         let segment = new RouteSegment(matched.consumedUrlSegments, matched.parameters, urlOutlet,
-                                       matched.component, factory);
+                                       factory.componentType, factory);
 
         if (matched.leftOverUrl.length > 0) {
-          return _recognizeMany(componentResolver, matched.component, matched.leftOverUrl)
+          return _recognizeMany(componentResolver, factory.componentType, matched.leftOverUrl)
               .then(children => [new TreeNode<RouteSegment>(segment, children)]);
         } else {
-          return _recognizeLeftOvers(componentResolver, matched.component)
+          return _recognizeLeftOvers(componentResolver, factory.componentType)
               .then(children => [new TreeNode<RouteSegment>(segment, children)]);
         }
       });
 }
 
 function _recognizeLeftOvers(componentResolver: ComponentResolver,
-                             parentType: Type): Promise<TreeNode<RouteSegment>[]> {
-  return componentResolver.resolveComponent(parentType)
+                             parentComponent: Type): Promise<TreeNode<RouteSegment>[]> {
+  return componentResolver.resolveComponent(parentComponent)
       .then(factory => {
-        let metadata = _readMetadata(parentType);
+        let metadata = _readMetadata(factory.componentType);
         if (isBlank(metadata)) {
           return [];
         }
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ function _checkOutletNameUniqueness(nodes: TreeNode<RouteSegment>[]): TreeNode<R
 }
 
 class _MatchResult {
-  constructor(public component: Type, public consumedUrlSegments: UrlSegment[],
+  constructor(public component: Type|string, public consumedUrlSegments: UrlSegment[],
               public parameters: {[key: string]: string},
               public leftOverUrl: TreeNode<UrlSegment>[], public aux: TreeNode<UrlSegment>[]) {}
 }