With a majority of mobile devices being sold in the market powered by its Android Operating system, Google could have never been this happy.
But its quest for dominating the PC market with its Chrome OS is even stronger.
Acer’s announcement that Chromebooks account for 8 per cent of their U.S shipments, slightly more than its Windows based laptops is good news for Google.
Its long and hard push towards making Chrome from just a browser based to a stand alone OS is reaping rewards.
The war of words had started between Acer and Microsoft regarding the Surface RT device with Acer’s CEO JT Wang insisting that “it would create a negative impact for the ecosystem, causing considerable damage to other brands”.
This has gone a step further with Acer’s President Jim Wong declaring that its only Chromebook model Acer C7, priced at $199 is more successful than its Windows 8 based Aspire One.
This was in just two months after the launch of Acer’s Chromebooks. This reach is seen as encouraging for Google as the promotions for Chromebook have not been as broad as the ones featuring Windows 8 devices.
Support from Vendors
Others vendors like Samsung, Lenovo are also coming up with their own versions of Chromebooks. These include Samsung Series 5 Chromebook, Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook, HP Pavilion Chromebook etc. In just two weeks since launch, Samsung Chromebook is the best selling laptop on Amazon’s online store followed only by Apple Macbook and Windows 8 based Toshiba Satellite Laptops.Adding to this is the news from Asus. The Taiwanese vendor reported strong Q3 profits based on brisk sales of Google Nexus 7 tablet. The profit rose by 43 percent to $230 million due to this.
Move towards Google Chrome
While Google has constantly and steadily improved on its Chrome and Android offerings, the move by PC makers to turn towards Chrome is not only due to this.
Microsoft has got no one to blame except itself for driving PC makers towards Google Chrome.
This started after it caused anger among vendors by deciding to build its own Windows 8 tablets, and also pinning the blame on them for disappointing sales of Windows 8.
Another reason causing discontent among vendors is the fact that Microsoft and its partner Intel have made Windows 8, a costly affair.
The hardware requirements are turning out to be unreasonably expensive for consumers.
The Cost Factor
Though Chrome based laptops have long been considered niche
“only for specific audience” since launch in 2011, the favourable factor has been the price point. Google has positioned Chromebook laptops as an alternative to expensive laptops powered by Windows.
Since Chromebooks are Linux based and more web friendly, it has been widely accepted both in schools and business enterprises as an alternative.
The cost of owning a Chrome based device is much lower than Windows powered devices.
Microsoft cannot be competing with Chromebooks on the price factor as the licensing cost for Windows Operating System, both Windows 8 and Windows RT has been one of the main reasons for driving up the costs.
Wider Acceptability
Google has started to air Ads on Chromebook to raise awareness among consumers. T
his is a positive step towards making Chromebook acceptable for a wider audience than earlier. With more time being spent on the Internet, Chromebook would definitely find more takers.
It remains to be seen how Google reaches out to people who prefer Mac and Windows powered devices for all their needs.
This has been mainly due to the fact that Chrome is still not preferred by those who need computing power, and those who need software installed for their daily business needs.
Once the awareness about Chrome and its computing capabilities increase, Google can look forward to giving a tough competition to Microsoft Windows and gain a strong foothold in the PC market.
The support from the hardware vendors for this cause will only increase in the days to come.
As Acer’s Wong puts it, “Windows 8 itself is still not successful.
The whole market didn’t come back to growth after the Windows 8 launch. That’s a simple way to judge if it is successful or not”.
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