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Real World Stats Show Chromebooks Are Struggling

Posted by timothy on from the show-me-your-pony's-next-trick dept.

recoiledsnake writes "The first real world stats for Chromebooks show that they're struggling to have any traction in the marketplace. In its first week of monitoring worldwide usage of Google's Chrome OS, NetMarketShare reported that the percentage of web traffic from Chromebooks was roughly 2/100 of 1 percent, a figure too small to earn a place on its reports. The first Chromebooks went on sale in June 2011, nearly two years ago, with Acer reportedly selling fewer than 5000 units in the first six months and Samsung selling even fewer. In the past three years, Chromebook sales have been worse than even three months worth of WindowsRT sales. Perhaps users are heeding Stallman's warning on Chromebooks. We previously discussed reports of Chromebook topping Amazon sales, selling to 2000 schools and wondered whether QuickOffice on ChromeOS can topple Microsoft Office." I find ChromeOS good in some contexts (any place that a browser and a thin layer of Linux is all you need), but the limitations are frustrating — especially on hardware that can run a conventional Linux as well as Google's specialized one. We'll watch for developments in the Google hardware world at next week's I/O conference.

11 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Give up by spire3661 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Make it a linux machine with deep ties to the net, not an internet machine with crappy compromises for offline use. Make it an offline machine FIRST, then worry about adding your online hooks.

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    Good-bye
    1. Re:Give up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But that's the point of the thing. It would be like telling Apple "Give up and stop making iOS, just license Android instead." Sure, it might very well be the best move, but it's completely against the effort that went into creating the thing in the first place, and if you take such a drastic switch you might as well just create a completely different product anyway.

    2. Re:Give up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah but a laptop with no offline capability is like having a thin client that does not work half the time - which is exactly the issue with Chromebooks. It'll make a bit more sense if it was a stationary unit that always had a steady and fast Internet connection.

    3. Re:Give up by BasilBrush · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It would be like telling Apple "Give up and stop making iOS, just license Android instead."

      Other than the fact that iOS is very successful and ChromeOS isn't. So not really like it at all.

  2. Doing better than.. by mystikkman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, it's atleast doing better than the following:

    Nexus Q
    Google Wave
    Google Buzz
    etc.

    Not long before it might go the way of the Google Reader and get scrapped.

  3. Really? by Desler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perhaps users are heeding Stallman's warning on Chromebooks.

    You're joking, right? Please tell me this wasn't actually a serious statement...

    1. Re:Really? by vux984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I came here to say that too. That's just plain ridiculous. No average normal consumer checks what Stallman's opinion on something was and then decides not to buy something.

      But its not entirely implausible that users are deciding against Chromebooks for some of the same reasons as Stallman. I mean, I wouldn't buy a chromebook for many of reasons Stallman railed on them, but until I looked it up today in response to this article I didn't actually know that he'd gone on the record about chromebooks at all.

    2. Re:Really? by gandhi_2 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      So mass consumerism jumps on whatever device is trendy, irrespective of the security, privacy, or liberty concerns... and Stallman is a joke?

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      THL phish sticks
  4. Tablets... by David_Hart · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Between Tablets, eReaders, and smart phones why would anyone want a crippled Chromebook laptop?

    My thought is that most people who are in the market now for a Laptop are looking for something more capable to do work, etc. For everything else they are using tablets or smart phones.

  5. Re:Wait... what? by recoiledsnake · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Chromebooks have been topping the Amazon sales charts. Clearly TFA's numbers are bullshit because you don't top Amazon by selling less than 5,000 units.

    X is dying. Slashdot confirms it. One of the oldest trolls that still works.

    Submitter here. The 5000 figure is from the first 6 months of sales from June/July 2011.The Amazon sales charts numbers are from January of this year. Also, not many folks buy laptops from Amazon, so topping the sales there is nothing big.

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    This space for rent.
  6. Re:Simpler things by mug+funky · · Score: 3, Insightful

    i'm a technical user and OSX is a pain in my arse.

    "it's just like linux - it has a proper terminal" i thought when i got my mac.

    yeah... still punching at it to get it halfway as usable as apt-get install.