U.S. Tablet Sales Led by iPad in 2013 as Chromebooks Overtake MacBooks

[ghettochris]

You may scratch your head as to why college students seem to all own MacBooks. But, never underestimate the upper class and the things they buy. Because lets face it, the majority of college students are part of the middle/upper class. A person will buy a $400 watch, and then look at his phone every time he needs to know the time just out of habit. Do you think ladies really need that $400 name brand purse? Do you think it has more functionality than a $30 one from target? People spend money on things not just for the functionality, but for the status symbol and/or trendy look it gives. Apple laptops fall into this category. People buy them for the status it brings. Apple is in, so everyone has to have one.

it's not so much for the status, it's just what they want. Even if I was a windows guy, I would buy a macbook air and boot camp it, I just like the hardware the best. Every windows laptop I try and use, first thing I notice is how much the trackpad sucks.

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Chrome OS isn't that bad. I had a Samsung Chromebook for about five months and it suited me fine. I'm just a normal person who doesn't need a laptop for work, just personal use and school.

The downfalls of it were the lack of good photo editing apps - but I can use my iPhone for that - and the damn trackpad. Mostly the trackpad. It was terrible. A laptop with a bad trackpad is like a phone or tablet with a bad touchscreen - it just isn't gonna work out.

But the OS itself was perfectly fine for me and would be for most people.

I don't get what is so hard about having a good trackpad, everything but macs I check out fails miserably at this.

 

[Renzatic]

I don't get what is so hard about having a good trackpad, everything but macs I check out fails miserably at this.

They've gotten considerably better with this recent rev of laptops, but even now they're now other companies have more or less matched Apple on pure hardware functionality, Windows doesn't have all the various gestures that make using one on OSX so fluid.

This is one area I believe Apple will always be ahead in.

 

[Mockenrue]

If a $200 or $250 Chromebook has to be replaced every two years, then it will cost between $600 to $750 in a six year period. A MacBook or a decent Windows laptop can easily last six years, so the value of the Chromebook goes down tremendously.

Even if they do last that long, how many Apple owners have the discipline to resist the upgrade urge for six years?

As others have said, I don't get the "us vs. them" mentality here. A BMW M3 is a better car than a Hyundai, but the Sonata sells more because they are more affordable. There are good reasons to own both. I own a 2013 Macbook Air and a Samsung Chromebook. The gap is a lot less than people think for many use cases.

 

[samcraig]

So much butt hurt. So Apple releases the iPad and it over takes PCs, fan boys argue it's a PL and can do real work. Flash foward to Chrome books and now people spit on the sales numbers because it's not "functional"? Sorry, but I can do documents, run autocad, and surf the web. Haters can't be proud of some good comeptiton. Goggle is actually taking cues from apple and making it avaliable at a lower price. Competition is good. There is still reason to get a mac yall.

You can also have external storage on a chromebook - something you can't with an iPad...

 

[MacAddict1978]

Chromebook is not a real laptop. It's an overpriced toy that is essentially useless in the real world. Macbooks continue to dominate in the real laptop market segment with the world's most advanced operating system OS X.

See, this is a trolling post.... and this is the kind of post that spawns "apple sheep" comments and loathing.... and this is the kind of post that deserves that response.

I love my Macbook. I love OSX 10. I do real a lot of work.... and.... a lot of people just surf the web, email, etc.

The chromebook is perfect for that person.

It has the full on laptop experience with the display, keyboard etc... and.... it's cheaper than a tablet, far to the contrary of what your fan boy post says.

A chrome book $199-$300.

Touch is finding its way to the chrome book with newer models that came out this holiday season.

A few engineering tweaks, and now we have the perfect tablet/laptop hybrid that Microsoft has attempted and failed at with windows 8 but at an entry level price.

The only true criticism that can really be made about the Chromebook platform is it's need for internet access. And many apps don't need to be connected. You can use google docs offline and some other apps.

For a platform that still has tons of room to grow and is hardly mature, these numbers are telling concerning consumer buying choices in the current market.

Is this right for everyone? No.... but it's nothing that this post said it was.

Whose real world are we talking about? Chances are unless your a creative professional, you have a computer at work you use, or are issued a company laptop.... that you probably don't want personal stuff on because IT departments and monitoring of corporate computers more and more see everything you do.

The real world for most people is.... facebook, email, surfing, casual gaming, maybe composing a simple document.... and this meets and satisfies all of those needs. Photo storage and editing in the cloud has been here... and the cloud is where everything is going.... the cloud is the new real world...

If anyone should be criticized it's probably Apple. They charge a premium for the same components that competing hardware sells for half the price....
OSX hasn't seen any revolutionary changes in years... Windows has until windows 8 caught up to them... but at least Microsoft attempt innovation with windows 8 (just bad outcome).... where is and what is apple doing right now? More of the same. A lot of people argue they don't want touch on a laptop, but a lot of people also do. Apple should have been front and center with this concept well before microsoft. Apples foray into the cloud? Terrible execution and feature set.... and the iPad is a blown up iPhone that at this level of it's maturity really should be able to function at a different level than a smart phone and offer more functionality than it does to differentiate itself and compete.... iPad market share is smaller every year as Android tablets start to put it to shame....

 

[carmenodie]

What do we call it? A race to the bottom? Lol!
The chrome books looks like a pc but is only an Internet only tablet. The pc form factor is a marketing ploy to make the suckers think they are getting something they could possibly play COD on. Lol all damn day!!!!! Can you imagine an out of touch mom buying her hardcore gamer son a chrome book because she couldn't score a goddamn PS4.SMMFH!
Seriously the chrome book was meant to differentiate itself form the tablets out there.IMHO.

 

[AppleScruff1]

And made about 1% of the money that Apple did. How is that good. It really is not good to build market share at an operating loss...

By the way. Am I the only one feeling netbook DejaVu.

Small and Cheap But no Windows
Small and Cheap With Windows
Gone

And the average consumer cares how much profit a company makes because?

 

[James_C]

Not sure the report quoted is that valid to be honest as it excludes sales from Apple stores and Apples website. The latest IDC report shows that Chromebooks are not selling well. No one I know has a Chromebook.

http://www.zdnet.com/latest-idc-figures-show-chromebooks-continue-to-struggle-7000023000/

 

[redhawk87]

it's not so much for the status, it's just what they want. Even if I was a windows guy, I would buy a macbook air and boot camp it, I just like the hardware the best. Every windows laptop I try and use, first thing I notice is how much the trackpad sucks.

I am not denying the usefulness of certain features you get with a macbook. I personally think macbooks are just made better. I had one in college and its still going strong. However, the majority of college students do not need that much computing power. They can easily get by with cheaper alternatives. There are windows laptops out there that I think are very good, cheaper alternatives to MacBooks that would be perfect for what most college students do. Hell, iPads would get the job done these days. I think for people who really use their laptop for a lot of things, you make very valid points, but that is not the average college student. The average college student doesnt need multi-touch trackpads and i7 chips. They get them because its a status symbol and their parents think they need it to do well in college. I am not trying to say this is a bad thing or trying to say people should not buy them. If I had a kid going to college, I would buy them a MacBook hands down. I know they dont need it and its manly just for the status, but I would buy it anyways.

 

[iChrist]

ChromeOS is a pitiful excuse of an OS. By far the worst I have ever used.

Good for you. Many people appreciate the value, it let's them do what they need to, with a keyboard, for a reasonable price.

Flipside: Expensive MacBook pros with yellow screens and creaky cases. MacBook Airs with the power button next to the delete key. Poor design at a high price.

These numbers are not surprising at all.

 

[512ke]

Chromebooks are selling well? Great. Run all the articles you want about it. Just don't start screaming alarmist headlines about how Apple is doomed because Chromebooks are the new Windows.

The media largely tried, and failed, to use this same smear tactic against iOS devices this year. Well guess what? IPhone sales are up. IPad sales are up. And Mac sales are up.

Up not down. Apple is doing well in all sectors and segments right now.

Apple is a high end company. They don't have to beat freaking Chromebooks, nor will Chromebooks take anything away from Apple.

 

[N64]

And made about 1% of the money that Apple did. How is that good. It really is not good to build market share at an operating loss...

The consumer doesn't care. I can't even imagine someone seeing one of these things online and saying "No, it clearly is a bad product because Google makes no money off of it. I'll buy something that profits a company instead." You're looking at it from the perspective of a shareholder.

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What about maps and iOS 7?

iOS 7 has enough nice features to outweigh the crappy design. And now that I have a jailbreak...
I dunno what's wrong with Apple Maps. I got Google Maps just to have it but deleted it a while ago because I never used it.

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You can choose to live in fear of that. Then you should also choose to live in equal fear of facebook, amazon, target, any bank, apple, etc of doing the same.

The only relevant example in that list is Apple. I don't use iCloud for anything but the email service and Find My iPhone, and I sure don't use it for sensitive emails. Most of that is because the iCloud document system sucks and cannot compete with Dropbox at all, but even then, I wouldn't put sensitive information on iCloud.

Anyone who thinks that Facebook is going to keep his stuff private clearly doesn't understand what Facebook is for. And nobody gives their documents and emails to banks and retail companies.

 

[Romy90210]

Most of the comments like this are from people who have never used them (spending five minutes on one at Best Buy does not count).

I've had my Acer C720 now for two weeks, its by far my favorite device - just for its simplicity and the lightness of the OS. It does 98% of what most people want in a PC and its versatile, cheap and runs forever on a charge.

All I can say is before you hate, spend $199 and use one for a couple of weeks and you will find out that Chromebooks are one of the best values in tech. Period. Why else would Microsoft spend $millions on a smear campaign?

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A Chomebook is a much cheaper device than at i7 Macbook - it costs 1/5 the price. The point being just like tablets took away from laptop sales, it appears that Chromebooks are the next blow

So you telling me that i can go to download.com and install any of the software/programs offered there?? Oh wait i remember that chromebooks are only good for websurfing/email and thats it.. Chromebooks are not real PC. Period......

 

[AppleScruff1]

Jesus. It's like you people don't understand A to B logic.

If I've sold 70,000 plastic peaches since opening my plastic peach business, and you've only sold 30,000, and the plastic peach market as a whole has sold 300,000 plastic peaches this year, for a total of 800,000 total plastic peaches in the hands of the public, I have a larger overall percentage of the plastic peach marketshare than you do, with a total of 8.5% of the market to your 3.75%.

I mean what do you think grows marketshare? What do you think the market is? I'LL TELL YOU NOW! PEOPLE WANTING PRODUCTS AND BUYING THEM AND OWNING THEM! OLOL! I'M SO DUMB!

edit: here you go, the Investopedia's definition of marketshare...

"The percentage of an industry or market's total sales that is earned by a particular company over a specified time period. Market share is calculated by taking the company's sales over the period and dividing it by the total sales of the industry over the same period. This metric is used to give a general idea of the size of a company to its market and its competitors".

I think Hotpockets would make a better analogy than plastic peaches.

 

[SusanK]

How many of these purchasers realised it didn't have Windows on it?

I know of several people who got one and were surprised that it didn't run Windows. Maybe they thought it's only Mac and/or Win.

 

[N64]

true... so does that mean tablets are cannibalizing Mac laptops more than windows laptops?

I don't know. It could be anything. I would think that they'd cannibalize Windows laptops more just because so many of them are really cheap and are meant to be used for email and web only. I'd rather use a cheap Windows laptop than a Mac laptop just for email and web, not because I don't want to spend the money but because I'm afraid the Mac will get damaged or stolen while I'm on the go. But I use a 4th-hand 2006 MacBook that I got for free.

 

[gnipgnop]

Not sure the report quoted is that valid to be honest as it excludes sales from Apple stores and Apples website. The latest IDC report shows that Chromebooks are not selling well. No one I know has a Chromebook.

http://www.zdnet.com/latest-idc-figures-show-chromebooks-continue-to-struggle-7000023000/

Yeah, and that article you linked to specifically mentions that the bulk of Samsung's industry leading Chromebook sales are mainly to U.S. K-12 school systems that are looking for cheap replacements for older netbooks.

 

[AppleScruff1]

iOS 7 has enough nice features to outweigh the crappy design. And now that I have a jailbreak...
I dunno what's wrong with Apple Maps. I got Google Maps just to have it but deleted it a while ago because I never used it.

The post I replied to stated "Apple doesn't make 'good enough'", implying that everything that Apple does is better than the competition. I gave 2 examples that I feel proved otherwise.

 

[nexusrule]

I don't get it. I work at a university and I see a LOT of people with laptops... and I can only recall one Chromebook, ever. Mac laptops are extremely popular, both with students and with faculty - I'd guess it's about 50% of the laptops I see are Macs.

What is it that you don't get? Isn't it obvious that your campus is not a representative sample of the general american population? How many elders, housewives, manual workers live there for example?

 

[N64]

The post I replied to stated "Apple doesn't make 'good enough'", implying that everything that Apple does is better than the competition. I gave 2 examples that I feel proved otherwise.

Maybe worse on the delta. They took the design of iOS 6 and the design of Android then averaged the two. Still better

 

[AppleScruff1]

Maybe worse on the delta. They took the design of iOS 6 and the design of Android then averaged the two. Still better

I actually meant the bugs in iOS 7 and the crashing problems in the iPad Air. iOS 7 is currently not a highly polished piece of work, just as Apple maps wasn't when it was introduced.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I've just realised what this article is...

Commercial sales to third party retailers... So wouldn't take into account online apple or Apple stores...!!!!

Of course it's not going to look that big! Why would you buy from a retailer rather than apple direct unless there was a biiig discount.

I read another article on this topic that said the "commercial channel" is businesses, government, education and other organizations.

I wish we could figure out what the hell they are talking about

 

[Khaaaaaaaaaan]

The area where I saw Chromebooks exceed Mac growth was within public schools. Cheap, affordable, easily replaceable. Since a large percentage of the work is being done online (math, spelling sites, Google Docs), these low end laptops are built perfectly for that workflow. Apple has been pushing iPads not Macs into the school districts mostly due to their push on leveraging iBooks for textbook replacement which IMO, is a good move and affordable by most districts. As it stands and according to the data, both standard and laptop computers will continue to decline in sales for multiple reasons....one being that most hardware nowadays lasts a hell of a lot longer than before alone with people transitioning to tablet devices from older desktop\laptops. With an OS like Chrome or even iOS, most hardware shouldn't need to be replaced as quickly. The next 3 years will be very telling on where these devices will eventually land or exist....especially if vendors can truly marry a mobile & desktop experience into 1 device like what Ubuntu is trying and Microsoft failed to do.

 

[N64]

I actually meant the bugs in iOS 7 and the crashing problems in the iPad Air. iOS 7 is currently not a highly polished piece of work, just as Apple maps wasn't when it was introduced.

Oh, ok. I didn't know about the iPad issues since I don't have an iPad.

 

[lyngo]

I think next year is going to be when Chromebooks get going. The suite of Google Apps is becoming very compelling. Even Google + is making gains among the youth. The price for these devices is amazing and the hardware seems to be quite good. Wifi is becoming fairly ubiquitous. And every Verizon smartphone user can turn their phone into a wifi hotspot for no additional cost (though data usage will count). AT&T and the other carriers might have followed that policy, I'm not sure.

I am a Verizon smart phone user and I cannot turn my phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot for no additional cost.