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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.

20 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.

    --
    Good-bye
    1. 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.

    2. Re:Give up by erroneus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      We're in a market of change right now. And unless the whole use [purpose] is new, using a new OS will be hevily resisted.

      This is why Android is increasingly popular. Users don't have a full set of expectations defined and so there is nothing to compare or contrast or to give up or lose or miss out on. Well, that's not entirely true -- Apple iOS devices are kind of a comparison, but the things which are exclusive to iOS are becoming fewer to be sure. And as far as I, personally, am concerned Android devices do more for me than iOS. (I can run software which interfaces with my car over bluetooth! That's pretty cool stuff I can't do with iOS unless the device is jailbroken.)

      Anyway, I think Chromebook is a dumb idea. It should have been an Android book. People will be more accepting of it and all that. The fact that there is this "computer thing" that doesn't quite do what people expect is confusing, frustrating and disappointing. But people have expectations formed about Android and might be excited to have an "android device with a keyboard." :) It's all about the angle of approach isn't it?

    3. Re:Give up by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Of those three, you can run Linux on a chrome book.

      Actually, that's the only thing even vaguely tempting me to get one, seeing as the netbook makers went nuts proceeded by a market collapse.

      My eee 900 is getting very old now, and there's nothing currently which fits into the same segment as it did 4.5 years ago.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  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.

    1. Re:Doing better than.. by VortexCortex · · Score: 3, Funny

      What? They scrapped Google Reader? I had always meant to try that someday. I need to get around to trying out a Chromebook someday too...
      However, I'd wipe it and install Debian, so the web stats wouldn't be counting me anyway -- Hold on, doesn't that mean the traffic graphs are more about ChromeOS adoption than that of a Chromebook? It's not like installing Cyanogen makes my Nexus not a Nexus anymore...

      Wait just a damn minute. Did we just comment on observations of statistics?! Well, the whole things moot then isn't it? 100% of those I've polled agree.

  3. I quite like mine. by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 3, Informative

    I just bought an Acer C7 a couple of weeks ago.
    Light weight, fast enough. Good web browsing experience.
    I wouldn't have it as my only computer, but over all I think it will make one heck of a good momputer.

    --
    If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
    1. Re:I quite like mine. by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Informative

      Very easy to run Chrombuntu on and then it makes the best laptop I know of for that price.

    2. Re:I quite like mine. by gclef · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Thirded...installing chrUbuntu takes it from a google-leashed mostly-useless toy into a really reasonable, cheap minilaptop. I'm quite happy with mine...as long as it's running linux, not chromeOS.

    3. Re:I quite like mine. by Rotag_FU · · Score: 4, Informative

      I wouldn't have it as my only computer, but over all I think it will make one heck of a good momputer.

      Give this man a prize, he hit the nail on the head. Momputing is where it is at.

      After having to perform the drudgery of familial tech support for years, this thing makes my life a breeze. It is simple and straightforward for my mom to use. Currently it has a smaller attack vector cross section due to the smaller user base making it currently "safer" for mom to use with regards to malware. If it does get compromised or the OS gets corrupted, it is easy to reset to a clean state without having to do time consuming reconfiguration. If it actually breaks, her stuff is in the cloud so it is as simple as buying a new chromebook and having her login and she is good to go.

      My mom has been using the $249 Samsung Chromebook with the solid state memory and mobile processor for about a month now and loves it. It has an added benefit of being light and (due to the mobile processor) requires no fan and doesn't get hot on her lap.

      I could also see value in this as a living room/guest laptop, but have not tried that.

  4. 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.

  5. Wait... what? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    1. 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.

      --
      This space for rent.
    2. Re:Wait... what? by swillden · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

      OTOH, total sales so through Q1 of 2013 are purportedly in the 500K range. Certainly not a Windows killer yet, nor even an OS X competitor, but 100X more than 5K.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  6. Re:My Figures by BenSchuarmer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why do you hate trees? What did trees ever do to you?

  7. Imagine the day you're booted off Google by retrosteve · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Google is a wonderful company, and their products are useful and seductive and beautifully interlinked. But they're free to use and you're not the customer. And every day a certain number of people have their Google account blocked, for one reason or another, and find that there's no recourse to Google to fix that. In fact, there's no customer service department at all.

    Examples on the internet of this are easy to find:
    http://www.searchenginejournal.com/open-letter-to-google-why-have-you-taken-away-my-google-gmail-accounts/7873/
    http://classicsynth.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Get-Disabled-Google-Account-Back

    Now imagine that this happens to you, and your laptop has just become a paperweight. And this time, you've paid for it. Hmmm.

  8. Chromebooks are like tablets ... by perpenso · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Chromebooks are like tablets. They are generally complementary products for desktops and laptops, not replacement products. They are a device you can leave on your coffee table and do a little web browsing and email from your couch. Similarly your guests can pick it up and use it from the couch. It can be a box to help keep others off of your main pc or laptop, less malware risk.

    1. Re:Chromebooks are like tablets ... by perpenso · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Chromebooks are like tablets. They are generally complementary products for desktops and laptops, not replacement products. They are a device you can leave on your coffee table and do a little web browsing and email from your couch. Similarly your guests can pick it up and use it from the couch. It can be a box to help keep others off of your main pc or laptop, less malware risk.

      Problem is, Chromebooks are crappy laptops - they have a laptop formfactor (not a tablet one) which makes them inconvenient to use in say a living room when you want to surf on the couch (the keyboard gets in the way).

      I actually find the keyboard helpful. It can act as a base to keep the screen upright. When using a tablet I sometimes have to precariously balance it or hold it with one hand. Overall I'm unsure as to whether one or the other is better for browsing, they both seem fine to me. Its email where the chromebook seems to have the edge, typing can be awkward while balancing the tablet. If I am somewhere where I can let the tablet stand on its own and I have a flat surface for a bluetooth keyboard the tablet is a win. But tablet + bluetooth keyboard can be a bit pricey compared to a chromebook. Yes, I am focusing on the sub $300 chromebooks, I don't understand the $500 to $1,000 chromebooks, just get a laptop at that point.

      As a laptop, they're awful locked down things that pretend to act like a regular laptop ...

      They pretend no such thing. Being locked down is one of the desirable features of this *complementary* product (again, not a replacement for a laptop). One can hand the chromebook to a guest and not have to worry about it picking up malware, unlike your regular laptop. One can set one up for that relative that only want to browse and email and not have to worry about malware.

      In short, the chromebook is just an appliance, and for some situations that is probably the better option. People who think chromebooks are replacements for laptops are severely misinformed, well, except possibly for the segment that literally wants nothing more than web browsing and email.

  9. 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.