Chromebook Sales Expected to Pick up Pace

Analysts and commentators are predicting a surge in sales of Google Chrome devices as the operating system gains favour in all sectors for its power, efficiency and simplicity.

Google recently announced that by October this year, Chromebooks will be able to run nearly all the two million Android apps, including mainstream solutions such as Microsoft’s Office suite for Android tablets, making Chromebooks much more flexible and useful, even when they are out of range of a web connection.

According to reports, Chrome OS devices outsold products using the Mac OS for the first time in Q1. And while IDC estimates that Chrome devices still account for only 10% of PC sales in the US and 2.5% globally, sales are expected to surge by almost 30% this year.

As Chrome was built to run on relatively low-powered systems, it is very efficient and responsive, and updates are managed automatically, so devices are easy and cost-effective to run. With the prospect of more applications coming on-stream later in the year, this summer many more organisations in education, the wider public sector and commercial market.