NPD: Chromebook sales outperform MacBooks in commercial sector as iPad loses ground

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  • Reply 101 of 208
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    dcgoo wrote: »
    Not true.  Verizon has never charged a fee for hotspot.  AT&T plans now include it. Although some grandfathered plans may not allow it, without leaving the old plan.  In both cases you have to pay for the data, but no extra charge for hotspot.
    Unless AT&T changed their plans you have to subscribe to the highest data plan to get tethering.
  • Reply 102 of 208
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by asdasd View Post



    The massive increase seems odd. And do businesses really restrict themselves to web apps?

     

    Exactly. I call b.s. on this. I think some of this is just made up nonsense.

  • Reply 103 of 208
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    clemynx wrote: »
    You can do a Keynote like presentation on ChromeOS?

    Maybe you can. Dunno for certain but there's some folks who claim they can make it happen.
    https://plus.google.com/+RonnieBincer/posts/HoMArbKDMfK
  • Reply 104 of 208

    That was enjoyable reading those comments.

    Just to clear things up:

    No, you don't need WiFi. You can do everything you normally would and it gets uploaded to the cloud next time you have a connection.

    Many Chromebooks have the option for 4G built in with free data.

    The new Haswell Chromebooks are really good. 10+ hours of battery. Cold boot time is 10 seconds. Blazing fast. Many of the sub $200, older Chrombooks are complete crap. Some of the newer ones have build quality as good as the MBA.

    Touchscreens available.

    I don't see any business use for them. That's obviously not what they were designed for. It's for education and a second household computer.

    Keynote presentations are best done using a Chromecast or the HDMI out cable.

    Auto updates in the background are great for the casual user.

    They took the number 1 and number 3 spot in Amazon's top selling laptops of 2013. Get ready for them. Market share of these is going to skyrocket (more than it already has).

  • Reply 105 of 208
    Are you sure these are retail sales figures? Companies are notorious for inflating their sales figures by showing wholesale sales to distributors. Just because Best Buy or Amazon bought a ton of these and have them sitting in a warehouse somewhere doesn't mean they are actually being used by anyone. Like many posters, this just seems really hard to believe since I have never seen a chromebook being used by anyone. Not in business or casually.
  • Reply 106 of 208
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DCGOO View Post

     

     

    Not true.  Verizon has never charged a fee for hotspot.  AT&T plans now include it. Although some grandfathered plans may not allow it, without leaving the old plan.  In both cases you have to pay for the data, but no extra charge for hotspot.




    Verizon use to charge a fee to hotspot I have paid it a couple of times but now they don't charge me anything I used it 2 weeks ago.

  • Reply 107 of 208
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    nexusphan wrote: »
    That was enjoyable reading those comments.
    Just to clear things up:
    No, you don't need WiFi. You can do everything you normally would and it gets uploaded to the cloud next time you have a connection.
    Many Chromebooks have the option for 4G built in with free data.
    The new Haswell Chromebooks are really good. 10+ hours of battery. Cold boot time is 10 seconds. Blazing fast. Many of the sub $200, older Chrombooks are complete crap. Some of the newer ones have build quality as good as the MBA.
    Touchscreens available.
    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">I don't see any business use for them. That's obviously not what they were designed for. It's for education and a second household computer.</span>

    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">Keynote presentations are best done using a Chromecast or the HDMI out cable.</span>

    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">Auto updates in the background are great for the casual user.</span>

    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">They took the number 1 and number 3 spot in Amazon's top selling laptops of 2013. Get ready for them. </span>
    Market share<span style="line-height:1.4em;"> of these is going to skyrocket (more than it already has).</span>

    The article claims there is a business use - that's the main use. I could see education all right - to counteract that Apple need to produce a good keyboard.
  • Reply 108 of 208
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    asdasd wrote: »
    The article claims there is a business use - that's the main use. I could see education all right - to counteract that Apple need to produce a good keyboard.

    I think you're misreading "commercial" in the report title as referring to business use. AFAIK it's not but instead referring to commercial re-sellers like Best Buy or Staples
  • Reply 109 of 208
    I can tell you from personal experience who is getting Chromebooks. It is parents for their children who need a computer and do not have the money for 4 macbook pros. My daughter received a $200 Acer Chromebook. Students need a keyboard to learn typing, simple word processing and netflix. The Chromebook is locked down so updates only happen on auto. This was a problem because Netflix required the beta channel to work. It took me over an hour to find the suggestion on the web that turned on the beta updates. The Acer support guy blamed netflix and google. He didn't explain anything. Support among traditional pc producers is seen simply as a waste of resources.

    I would not use it for anything else. The screen is poor quality. Battery life is 3 hours. I haven't seen any use beyond this most basic one. It certainly doesn't feel like an aspirational product.
  • Reply 110 of 208
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by marubeni View Post

     

     

    Notice that there is another huge benefit if you are running a school: you control EXACTLY what is installed on the machine.


    You must not have any teenage kids.  When our son was in tenth grade, he and his friends were able to bypass all of the schools controls in less than a week.  They were able to install whatever they wished.  They did remove it all, because they were just seeing if they could do it.  A lot of smaller school systems cannot afford to pay the high price for an experienced admin that can really lock down the machines.  Now, please remember that I said a lot, and not all.  I know that there are some very good admins working in schools everywhere.  Just not where my kids went to high school!

  • Reply 111 of 208
    freediverx wrote: »
    Are Mikey Campbell's posts designed as a setup for DED? It seems all his stories are of the brain-dead "Apple is doomed" type that DED rails against. Seems Appleinsider needs to do a little housekeeping with their staff..

    The "...as iPad fails to sell" headline is Mikey's meme. Each of DED's personalities have a distinct habit to keep it consistent. :)
  • Reply 112 of 208
    I'm in San Francisco, and aside from the 1 chromebook we bought to check out its possible use, I haven't seen 1 notebook in the wild... at all. Where are they if they are so popular?
    (PS the chromebook wont run some endpoint client software for remote access to our network, so we aren't purchasing them either.
  • Reply 113 of 208
    jusephe wrote: »
    Yes you control exactly what is installed on the device... Nothing.

    Instead of a walled garden, you get a walled desert. And the school plays the role of warden.
  • Reply 114 of 208

    Apple couldn't care less how many $250 Chromebooks are sold as they don't compete in the low end markets. Let them have fun racing to the bottom!

  • Reply 115 of 208
    I'm not a "Mac guy" (though I used an original iPad for several years), but am more of a FOSS fan (using Ubuntu, Chrome, and Android at home, and SUSE with a Windows VM at work). Here's my perspective, for what it's worth.

    I think Chromebooks appeal to three market segments. Principally they appeal to those on a limited budget - for $199 you get a "name brand" laptop (Samsung, Acer, Asus, HP) with a "name brand" platform (Google) that runs fast and doesn't degrade over time like Windows. They also appeal to those of us with heavy investments in the Google space - Gmail, Play, Drive, Chromecast, YouTube - in much the same way that iPhones and iPads appeal to those with heavy investments in iTunes and other Apple infrastructure. Finally, Linux enthusiasts find them (and Nexus devices) imminently hackable, as I can easily run Ubuntu *simultaneous* to ChromeOS, flipping between them with a hot key (identical kernel, don'tcha know), which is really cool IMHO.

    I think more "normal" people value Chromebooks' instant configuration to the user. Anyone in our family, or indeed anyone I know, can log into my Chromebook, and it's "theirs" for a while - their apps, their data, their everything (ignoring the local SSD, of course). When I first logged into my Chromebook, all my apps and even my Chromecast were already there, ready to use. Very convenient after having to set up each Microsoft, Apple, Android, and Ubuntu device through the years.

    I think from a vendor's perspective, Chromebooks have a very low market entry cost (no license agreements, full source code) and are ridiculously easy to tailor to specific markets. They are processor independent - Samsung's bestselling Chromebook is ARM-based, while my new Acer C720P with multi-touch screen and 32 GB SSD (only $299!) uses one of the new Intel mobile processors (9 hours on a charge actual, which is pretty sweet), and the vast Linux driver set provides tremendous flexibility in support chips and peripherals as well.

    Google is targeting the mass market with Chromebooks - thin margin devices for all - while Apple targets the high end - generous margins on fewer top quality devices, but with greater overall profit. Apple's enviously high satisfaction ratings and rabidly loyal fan base makes this strategy profitable and sustainable for them in the long term, in my opinion, and I admire their resilience in not being sucked into a price war while still adapting to market trends (I'm thinking iPad Mini here in particular).

    I enjoyed my iPad a lot, but when the choice came down to another iPad or a touch Chromebook for half the price, given my larger investment in Google's infrastructure than in Apple's, it was an easy choice. My brother went with an iPhone, and is delighted, and I continue to recommend Apple laptops and mobile devices without hesitation to those for whom they are suitable. I like having choices, and wish Apple and its fans all the best.
  • Reply 116 of 208
    Given the recent revelations regarding the lack of credibility of these types of reports (http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/16/the-curious-case-of-idc-gartner-strategy-analytics-pc-phone-tablet-data-on-apple), I'm not even sure why these "reports" are reproduced anywhere but the gossip columns. And Chromebooks in enterprise? Even a casual review of Google's stated policies on privacy (hint: there is none) would seem to rule out the use of cloud apps by any company that wanted to maintain even a shred of data security. It's not adding up to me...
  • Reply 117 of 208
    Several years ago, when Chromebook just came out, I had the doubt for its usefulness. Quick forward to now, there are 3 Chromebooks at my house: my wife uses one; my son uses one for his college work, and my daughter uses one for her high school work. They just love it. The price is right, the files are backed up automatically. Google Doc is good enough to handle routine needs, and surfing the net is fast. Most importantly, the price is right
  • Reply 118 of 208

    I don't travel that much, but my last three trips, I've encountered several Chromebooks.

     

    Don't see them in a cafe'? Well, let's stereotype for one second the types of people who buy Apple products and the types of people who spend any time at all in a cafe', or in a "studio."

  • Reply 119 of 208
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post

     

    FYI: The US commercial channel sales market, which includes resellers and distributors of computer products.

     

    These `sales' are units shipped to these resellers and distributors and classified as sales final, when they are actually sales pending to an end consumer. In short, these are channel packings to prop up quarterlies and once they surpass the quarter and inventory of products aren't moving the distributor/reseller has an option to reduce the sale and/or ship back the merchandise with a small fee.

     

    Those `units' statistics aren't worth spit. They never have been.


    thanks for reminding us about how NPD plays its game. of course, NPD could also easily estimate the omitted Apple's direct sales stats too (they know total sales that Apple announces quarterly, and they can subtract their own third party same-period sales numbers from that to get a likely historic multiplier to apply to their latest reseller sales info).

     

    but they don't. nor do they make any of this clear in their "reports." because NPD are really paid hacks hyping their clients' stats, and Apple doesn't ?bribe  contract for their services.

  • Reply 120 of 208
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    timbit wrote: »
    I work at Best Buy and haven't set up a chrome book in 3 months, much less seen one bought. I have seen a few returned though.... Some people are interested in them until I tell them they can't use iTunes or office on it, then they quickly change their mind.

    Google doesn't count deactivations. ;)

    The most popular Chromebook seems to be the Samsung 11" under $250. This is with an ARM processor.

    For business use for basic admin work, this should be fine as it has an HDMI port for a display. Apple could build a MBA with their ARM chip too. The entry Air CPU cost $342 from Intel so $999 Air with 30% margins = $699 - $342 - amount for lower RAM ($70) - amount to go from 128GB SSD to 16GB ($50) + $70 ARM = $307 with 30% margins = $449.

    While the Chromebook is still a good bit cheaper, the Air would run iOS and have the nicer trackpad and would hit a much larger volume of potential buyers than the $999 model.

    But, the only real difference between it and an iPad is the keyboard/mouse and USB and the 11" iPad has an IPS Retina display. There's also the windowed UI that helps with multi-tasking productive environments but that could be worked around without compromising the full-screen UI.
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