A study from the NPD Group shows an interesting trend in them computer sales market in the United States between the months of January 2013 and November 2013. The number of sold units is compared to the same period the year before, but the study does show that sales for the Chromebooks have skyrocketed in those 11 months compared to last year’s number. According to the study, Chromebook sales accounted for only 0.2 percent of sales that include all desktops, iPads, Apple Notebooks, Windows Notebooks, Android Tablets and Windows Tablets.
Taking a look at the same number of months from this year and it looks like the sales have jumped to gain a 9.6 percent market share. That is a substantial increase in market share for just one year and shows the obvious popularity of the devices. That is higher than Apple Notebooks at 1.8 percent and the 8.7 percent that is held for Android tablets on the market. The Windows tablets only accounted for 2.2 percent of sales, so the Chromebook was almost 4.5 times higher than tablets that come with a keyboard option. The last year brought a more stable and affordable Chromebooks to the market from companies like ASUS, HP and Samsung.
Android tablets were also on the rise going up to 8.7 percent from the 4.2 percent the year before, but something that is more interesting is the fact that sales of the iPad fell from 17.1 percent of the market, to 15.8 percent. Even though the drop is small, it still shows where the attention is moving to in the mobile computing marketplace. Desktop numbers also feel again from 32.3 percent to just 27.8 percent of the total sales, which is not surprising to many people at all.
Devices that bring plenty of performance and options for apps are going to be more popular as consumers generally are hungry for more power for things like streaming content and intensive apps. For 2014, the Chromebook options should get even better as devices like the LG Chromebase are going to be offered and that will show that the Chrome OS will fit into more traditional form factors. According to the study, the only three categories that gained over last year were the Chromebooks, Android Tablets and Windows Tablets, leaving the desktops, Windows Notebooks, Apple Notebooks and iPads on the decline.
