Chromebooks: the flop of 2011?

Google's Chromebook initiative doesn't appear to have been a success. Launched in May 2011, combined sales from both Acer and Samsung - the only two major Chromebook vendors - is unlikely to exceed 30,000 units.

So says DigiTimes, in a story about phone maker HTC wondering whether it should adopt Google's Chrome OS for internet gadgets of its own.

Compare that figure with the 211m laptops forecast to have shipped this year and the 59m tablets.

Neither Acer nor Samsung have yet confirmed the claimed sales figure.

Acer's AC700 Chromebook

But Chromebook has at least one other backer: UK retain chain Dixons. Mark Slater, head computer buyer at Dixons Retail, reckons that "Chrome could be circa ten per cent of our computing business this time next year", the Telegraph reports.

There's a catch: Slater's forecast is dependent on "the right mix of hardware partners and a much greater consumer push with regards to the benefits [of Chrome OS]".

But, he adds, "it's not inconceivable for Google to push Chrome much harder before the arrival of Windows 8 next Autumn".

Google pitches Chrome OS as a desktop operating system with tight cloud integration, but it hasn't had the impact Android has. And while the notion of a very slim, store-all-your-data-on-the-net device has a certain appeal to techies, it's hard for the platform to compete in the consumer arena with Windows-based netbooks with beefier specs.

Especially when there's no real price advantage to the Chromebook.

Worse, the machines were launched when buyers were turning their backs on the netbook and shifting toward tablets.

Chrome OS may never change the world, but with both Mac OS X and Windows 8 becoming more cloud-centric and adopting UI features from tablets, it's not hard to envisage slimline machines from Apple and Microsoft's OEM partners running mainstream operating systems - perhaps there'll be Android-based laptops alongside them - designed to access data held online not locally.