Much has been made of Windows RT since its launch alongside Windows 8 last year, with OEMs and users highlighting its tepid reception and lack of a serious value proposition. However, while things aren't looking great for Microsoft's Windows-on-ARM operating system, it's looking even worse for Google's Chrome OS, as the web-centric operating system has market share so low it may as well be a statistical anomaly.
ZDNet's Ed Bott probed NetMarketShare over the worldwide market share figures for Chrome OS, only to discover that Chromebooks account for just 0.023% of all usage. After two years on the market, this equates to less market share than Windows RT managed after just three months, a dismal statistic for Google. When compared to Windows 8, which claims 3.31% of the market, the situation looks even worse.
A large number of PC manufacturers are currently producing low-cost (around $250) Chromebooks, including HP, Samsung, Acer and Lenovo, and Google also sells a $1,300 Chromebook for those after a more premium machine. Despite a number of Chromebooks being available for purchase, reports indicate that just 500,000 Chromebooks have been sold in the two years since their launch, which is less than the roughly 1.1 million Surface RT sales we're hearing since launch.
It seems that buyers simply don't desire a low-cost computer with the functionality of a web browser, instead preferring to spend more money on either a tablet or a full-blown PC. The PC market is certainly shifting, as we've seen from dropping shipments, but it isn't shifting towards Chromebooks.
Source: ZDNet
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