Real World Stats Show Chromebooks Are Struggling

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Real World Stats Show Chromebooks Are Struggling

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 9, 2013 @07:45AM 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.

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Give up by spire3661 · 2013-05-09 07:47 · 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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1. Re:Give up by Anonymous Coward · 2013-05-09 08:06 · 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 · 2013-05-09 08:20 · 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?
Doing better than.. by mystikkman · 2013-05-09 07:47 · 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.
Really? by Desler · 2013-05-09 07:52 · 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...
Re:I quite like mine. by h4rr4r · 2013-05-09 08:01 · Score: 5, Informative

Very easy to run Chrombuntu on and then it makes the best laptop I know of for that price.
Wait... what? by AmiMoJo · 2013-05-09 08:11 · 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.

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1. Re:Wait... what? by swillden · 2013-05-09 09:25 · 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.
  
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Imagine the day you're booted off Google by retrosteve · 2013-05-09 08:25 · 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.
Chromebooks are like tablets ... by perpenso · 2013-05-09 08:43 · 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 · 2013-05-09 10:47 · 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.
Re:I quite like mine. by Rotag_FU · 2013-05-09 09:20 · 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.