Chromebooks Sales to Triple by 2017 – How Rapid Sales Heaven for PC Makers means Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 under attack

Google Chrome OS powered Chromebooks are Growing Strong like House Tyrell, Game of Thrones Style!

This based on the latest statistics coming out of analyst Gartner as reported in “Chromebooks Sales Growing But Still A Drop In The Devices Ocean”, published 11.08.2014 by Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch, which you can read online at their website as Competitive Landscape: Chromebooks Worldwide.

I’ve been keeping track of progress of Google Chromebooks ever since they launched their Chrome OS with the first Cr-48 Chromebooks back in 2010 as noted in my blog article entitled “Google Chrome OS and Open Source - Star Wars A New Hope”.

The latest Chromebooks I reviewed was the US$280 Toshiba Chromebook CB35-A3120, which signaled their entry into the now very crowded Chromebook ring as explained in my blog article entitled “Toshiba launches the US$280 Chromebook CB35-A3120 - Chrome OS’s cheaper and a sure bet against Windows 8.1 Rising Tide as Apple prepare to go to Hybrid School”.

If these sales numbers keep on increasing, Chromebooks will be well on their way of tripling this year’s estimates to some 14.4 million by the year 2017 as will be explained further on in my article.

Chromebooks Marketshare – Less than 1% is a Slice of Rapid Sales Heaven for PC Makers

Now Chromebooks marketshare is holding steady at some 5.2 million units expected to ship for the entire 2014, a boost in sales of some 79% over 2013 figures. Overall, analyst Gartner expects the following shipments for the year 2014:

1.      308 million PC i.e. laptops, desktops, ultramobiles and hybrids

2.      256 million Tablets

3.      564 million Computing Devices sold in total

That means Google's Chromebooks counts for less than 1% of the total Computer Market in terms of Shipments, most of which are for Enterprise and Corporate customers. Please note however, this is shipments; Chromebooks have the highest sell-through of any device and are hugely popular with Colleges and High Schools which accounted for 85% of their sales in 2013.

Most of those sales were in North American Region which accounted for up to 82% of the 2.9 million sold in 2013. High School, Colleges and Universities, it seems, like the idea of a lightweight Cloud Based Laptop that's cheaper than the Average Laptop. And yes, it bears repeating; they're the most popular type of computer on Amazon, which anyone can now see from a cursory search of their Shopping portal!

Chromebooks the New Netbook – Samsung is King of the Hill in the Chrome OS World

So albeit they account for such a measly marketshare, they're hot sellers. PC makers are drawn to this, as it means that if your company makes and ships a 100 Chromebooks for example, you stand to sell them all within a week at a typical Wal-Marts Store and thus maintain your sales margins. Thus the Eight (8) models released since 2014 started are clearly doing well right now.

Meanwhile all those Laptop and PC's will probably site out a typical ninety (90) day period before they eventually are put on Sale, a loss for PC makers as their margins get slimmer. Faster turnaround sales are the name of the game people! Chromebooks are a part of what I like to Call a Three Horse Race of Hot-Selling products in what I like to call Mobile Computing Category:

1.      Chromebooks

2.      Hybrid-Laptops formerly called Ultrabooks

3.      Tablets

Chromebooks are now being sold by every PC Maker along with the STILL red-hot Tablet Market based on the stats from the IDC and NPD Group for the First Quarter of 2014 as distilled in my blog article entitled “IDC and NPD Group record Tablet Decline and Phablet Rise - “White Box” Chinese Tablets and Wearable Computing in First Quarter of 2014 making Tablets obsolete in the Year of the Sheep”. This list of those PC Manufacturers who are selling Chromebooks has its own pecking order based on 2013 sales:

1.      64.9% marketshare goes to Samsung

2.      21.4% marketshare goes to Acer

3.      6.8% marketshare goes to HP

4.      6.7% marketshare goes to Lenovo

5.      0.3% marketshare goes to Dell

Good to note here Samsung marketshare represents some 1.7 million units, which suggests that the majority of Chromebooks being purchased by High School in the US of A were made by Samsung. Samsung, it seems, is becoming the king of the hill in the Chromebooks Category just as they're doing in the smartphone World as noted in  my blog article entitled “IDC Stats for Second Quarter of 2014 points to Asian Smartphone Rise – How cheaper smartphones are slowly killing BOTH Apple and Samsung marketshare”.

Chromebooks Triple by 2017 – Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 readying for assault

With this kind of competition from Tablets and the Google Drive Cloud based Chromebooks driven by laptop makers seeking quick sales, what are Microsoft and Apple doing to avoid this impending onslaught?

Microsoft continues to focus on promoting their Microsoft Surface Pro 3, which finally sports a Processor, Memory and SSD (Solid State Drive) Combination that can handle REAL Work and do Video Games as described in my blog article entitled “Microsoft launches Surface Pro 3 - Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 puts Kibosh on Tablets with Apple having to make a larger Keyboard iPad”.

Apple is rumoured to have plans to launch a Apple iPad that not only sports a Sapphire Screen with a TouchID Home button, but based on my estimates, will also be packing a built in keyboard in the Magnetic Cover as I've prophesied in my blog article entitled “Apple rumoured to be making a Laptop sized Tablet with a Built in Keyboard - Windows 8 Microsoft Surface and Chromebooks Barbarians after Bill Gates Rising Tide”.

Google Chrome OS is still Growing Strong. At this rate, though, not only will Samsung claim the Chromebooks Crown, but they'll be well on their way of tripling this year’s estimates to some 14.4 million by the year 2017.