14 DAY TRIAL // Google is finally selling Chromebooks in a significant number. At least, that's what it's claiming, though Amazon sale charts seem to confirm that. Still, Chromebooks have only been available in the US and the UK, until now.
Google is making the jump and bringing the cheap computers, if you don't count the Pixel, to more users around the world.
Chromebooks will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. Chromebooks from Acer, HP and Samsung will be available, meaning the Lenovo Chromebook won't be sold and neither will Google's own Pixel.
The Lenovo Chromebook is aimed at schools exclusively, so it's not available in stores anywhere, and the Pixel is a niche device for a niche operating system, Chrome OS, aimed at a niche market, people who can live on the cloud alone.
Chromebooks will be available in stores, mainly online, but Google will also start catering to enterprises and schools in those countries.
Google is quite happy to brag about sales, without actually giving up any numbers, noting that the Chromebook is the best sold laptop on Amazon for example.
"In the U.S., the Samsung Chromebook has been at the top of Amazon’s best-selling laptop list for 149 days since launch and in the U.K., Dixons says Chromebooks make up more than 10 percent of laptop sales in Currys and PC World stores," Google wrote.
This traction probably helped with the decision to expand to new countries. But Google is expanding in the US as well, it will begin selling Chromebooks in more places, specifically, in 1,000 Best Buy locations in the US. That's twice as many stores as the Chromebook is currently being sold in.
The Chromebook is still very much a niche device, but it's gaining momentum. Recently, Chrome boss Sundar Pichai took over Android as well, replacing Android head Andy Rubin. Perhaps telling is that it wasn't the other way around.