Chromebooks See Incredibly Kind 2013

Chromebook sales have made a stratospheric climb in 2013. Last year, U.S. sales for notebooks running the Chrome OS made up just 0.2% of the computer and tablet market. This year through November, that share is now 10%.

What's more, Chromebooks now claim a 21% share of all notebook sales. It's clear the wide (and widening) array of inexpensive notebooks running Google's operating system are gaining favor. The incredible gains are attributable to two likely factors.

First is price. Your average popular Chromebook runs about $250. That stands in marked contrast to popular Windows notebooks, which average about $100 more at $350. That's according to Amazon and an analysis by Computer World. The lower price points of Chromebooks are largely due to the fact that Google gives away the Chrome OS for free to OEMs, while Microsoft charges.

The second reason is that many average users don't need everything a full-fledged notebook affords. For many, the Chrome OS does everything they need it to do: get them on the Internet, let them share things, and provide a portal for cloud storage.

Whether 2014 is as good to Chromebooks as 2013 was remains to be seen, of course. What's certain is Microsoft has work to do if it wants to stay at the top of the game.

SOURCE: Computer World