Latest NPD Report Is A Shocker, Chromebooks Accounted For 21 Percent Of All Notebook Sales In The US

NPD Group’s Distributor Track and Commercial Reseller Tracking Service today reported that over 14.4 million desktops, notebooks, and tablets were sold through U.S. commercial channels in this year to date through November 2013. Windows laptops showed zero growth over 2012 while Windows desktops saw a 10% increase in numbers. Even Apple sales for laptops and desktops fell by 7%. The real shocker from the report is regarding Google Chromebooks which saw a tremendous growth.

Chromebooks, and Android tablets collectively had the biggest impact on sales growth, with 1.76 million units going through the channel from January through November of this year, compared to just 400,000 units in 2012.

Chromebooks accounted for 21 percent of all notebook* sales, up from negligible share in the prior year, and 8 percent of all computer and tablet sales through November, up from one tenth of a percent in 2012 – the largest share increase across the various product segments.

I clear don’t understand the market for Chromebooks. Who is buying these Chromebooks? And what’s their use case for it? I guess Microsoft clearly saw this strange trend of rising Chromebooks and started the campaign against it.

Microsoft Warns Not To Get Scroogled By A Chromebook (Video)

Source: NPD