Microsoft Windows XP has been the most successful OS ever, completing 13 years of run. But, Microsoft ended support for Windows XP in April 2014, expecting multi-fold growth in sales. However, Windows 8, the next-to successor of Windows XP, failed to replicate the success of its predecessor. The dismal performance of Windows 7 and Windows 8, and the declining cost of gadgets and electronic goods have paved the way for other operating systems. According to Gartner, Chromebook sales in 2014 will reach 5.2 million, a whopping 79% increase from 2013. Chromebooks are mobile computing devices that run on Google Chrome OS and use cloud storage as primary devices for storage.
“Competition in the Chromebook market is intensifying as more vendors launch Chromebooks, with eight models in the market in 2014. Now that the PC market is no longer growing strongly, vendors are searching for new business opportunities. They launched Chromebooks to revive interest in sub-$300 portable PCs once the netbook bubble had burst,” said Isabelle Durand, principal analyst at Gartner.
Chromebook Sales to Triple By 2017
The demand for Chromebooks is intensifying, especially in the education sector, primarily in North America. Out of the 2.9 million units of Chromebook sold in 2013, 82% were sold in North America alone. Thus, the anticipated YoY growth of 79 percent in Chromebook sales in 2014 would not be at all surprising. The sales of Chromebook are expected to reach 14.4 million units by 2017. According to NPD, Chromebooks accounted for 21% of all notebook sales in 2013 in the US. Interestingly, through the period of January to November 2013, the sales of the majority of devices like Desktops and Laptops declined while that of Chromebooks increased multi-fold times in the US.
Gartner reported that 2.9 million units of Chromebooks were sold globally during 2013 and according to the NPD Group, 1.76 million units of Chromebooks were sold during the 11 months ended November 2013 in the US alone. The above numbers clearly portray the level of technological advancement in the country. Americans are among the early adopters of any device or technology.
Samsung Continues to Lead the Chromebook Markert
In 2013, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. (KRX:005930) sold 1.7 million units of Chromebooks thereby capturing two-thirds of the market, followed by Acer which captured almost one-fourth of the market. Samsung and Acer got the early bird benefits in the Chromebook market. Samsung has always stayed a consumer-focused company, having a fleet of electronics products and giving the customers whatever they desire in terms of value for money. Lenovo and HP, though late entrants in the Chromebook market, managed to grab a share of 6.7% in 2013 with 194,000 units of Chromebook.
Chromebook is a relatively new product in the otherwise declining PC and laptop market. However, the success of Chromebook is primarily pegged to developed markets. Chromebooks are mostly used for cloud storage. The concept of cloud computing and cloud storage has still not caught up in developing nations where high-speed internet is a novelty due to its cost and other technical factors. Chromebooks are useful mainly in the education sector and enterprises which have shifted their work to cloud storage. Apart from cloud storage, the vendors need to address memory access and storage on hard drives to focus on today’s market.
In Sweden Samsung announced in September that they are leving the Nordic laptop market altogether, including the sales of Chromebooks.
To a Chromebook user terminating this category in the entire Nordics (such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark) sounds contradictory since Chromebooks are gaining in popularity in schools who buy them by the thousands around here.
I read some swedish testimonies in forums now this morning and one shool IT admin reported their service costs for a fleet of machines are down to 1 percent(!) with the Chromebooks compared to the earlier Windows laptops. One school I read about here locally have over 1000 Chromebooks out there among students with little problems.
But maybe in case of Samsung since the laptops regardless of type are handled by the same sales organisation they see the same fate even if maybe mostly sales of the Windows type of machines show bad figures.
And the factor that dramatic decline in service needs means less revenue come from maintenance of a deployed fleet of machines.
Dazeinfo good news for dem #Samsung
charlesarthur be back in an hour:) trying to get that data.
inglorious_b I don’t have that data.
charlesarthur Interesting: wondering if one can filter both the graphs by price of units sold (below 400, 400-700, 700-1000, 1000+)?
inglorious_b largely education and some SMBs.
charlesarthur Yeap. “*Preconfigured desktop and notebook sales only”. just saw.
inglorious_b the NPD stat is misquoted in that article. Chromebooks were absolutely not 21% of “all US notebook sales”.
inglorious_b Chromebooks aren’t a single element – they’re made by multiple OEMs, all fighting for profit, if there is any.