Chromebooks: Notebooks' Great White Hope?
Jul 26, 2013
As the notebook market faces a dismal 2013 (following annus orribilis 2012) NPD says one device category actually shows growth-- Chromebooks, whose US sub-$300 notebook market share is up to 20-25% over the last 8 months.
According to IHS 2013 is set to be a second consecutive year of decline for the notebook market, even the analyst says powerful yet affordable models carrying AMD (Temash) and Intel (Bay Trail) processors might "save the market." The analyst however fails to give mention of the Google-powered alternative.
“While we were skeptical initially, I think Chromebooks definitely have found a niche in the marketplace,” NPD tells Bloomberg. “The entire computing ecosystem is undergoing some radical change, and I think Google has its part in that change.”
The main driver behind the growth of Chromebooks is, as one can expect price-- Chromebook model (from Acer, Samsung, HP, Lenovo and Google itself) prices start at around $199 and peak at $300, making them more attractive to customer wallets than relatively overpriced ultrabooks.
The only exception to the rule is the Chromebook Pixel, a high-end Google-branded number featuring premium industrial design, high resolution touchscreen and $1300 price tag.
Chrome OS also appears to be a draw, with regular updates and new apps allowing for increasingly PC-style functionality within the stripped down cloud-based operating system.
According to Bloomberg Chromebooks even found favour at Intel, where around 1000 software engineers "spend at least some time" working on Chrome OS.
“We’re seeing tremendous growth, without a doubt-- massive, massive growth,” Chromebook head of product development Caesar Sengupta says. However Google declines to provide actual sales numbers.
Has the little Google notebook that couldn't grown into a little notebook that could? With low costs, ease of transport and improving web-based services providing compromise between tablets and regular PCs, Chromebooks might turn into a bright spot within the global market after all.
From: Consumer I.T.