Amazon’s Kindle may have been the most buzzed-about gizmo this past holiday season, but it looks as though Google and its OEM partners (Acer, Samsung) made out well, too, as retailers including Amazon, NewEgg and others sold out of the midrange Google Chromebook cloud-friendly netbooks.
Google’s holiday success was first hinted at by a blurb on its own Chromebook “Buy Now” product page:
Due to the busy holiday season, some online retailers may be temporarily out of stock. If you can’t find the model you’re looking for, please try a different site.
And, true to its word, at the time of writing, the Acer AC700-1099 Chromebook (Wi-Fi only) and a few others have sold out from Amazon.com, with similar results on fellow electronics retailers TigerDirect and NewEgg. It’s worth noting that it’s mostly the midrange models that sell out: the priciest model, the Samsung Series 5 3G model (MSRP $459.99) appears to be in stock at all three retailers.
They’re expected back in stock soon, and it’s not as though the Christmas rush made Chromebooks into a Tickle Me Elmo-style prize. But with doubts cast on the future of the very concept of a cloud-only netbook, and with Google Chromebooks soon to be available to the search giant’s reseller channel, it’s an important validation of the product line’s future.
The 
i think it’s more that retailers have been under stocking and are slow to replenish ……..if you get my drift.
I doubt it. Chromebooks are online sale only, hence the only constraint is manufacturing rate not retail space.
peterR: That’s certainly a possibility. A few weeks ago I was losing some faith in Chromebooks; I figured price cuts indicated they weren’t selling. But more recently I’ve been impressed to learn that Google is lining up Google Apps authorized resellers to also offer Chromebooks. That sounds like some progress to me.
Still, we will keep your thesis — retailers under stocking the devices — in mind as we track Chromebook developments.
-jp
And even if they are understocking: that means no less that the Chromebooks go better then expected.
First you complain that Chromebooks are overpriced, and then when the price is reduced (but still more than el cheapo Windows laptops/netbooks), it is suddenly a fire sale. Does somebody have an agenda?
Sorry, this was directed at Joe Panetteiri
They shouldn’t have any problems keeping them in stock. The components aren’t that exotic.
Ummm, Chromebooks are dead. I wonder why the media is attempting to hide the fact that the Chromebook has been a major flop for Google. People were so quick to jump all over RIM for their lackluster Playbook sales, but the Chromebook is just as much of a failure if not more so than the Playbook.
Who says they are dead? Who says they haven’t sold well (despite lack of advertising, despite a premium price, despite no retail presence, despite being only aimed at early adopters, it has been consistently high in the Amazon best sellers list). It should also be noted that Google was aiming the current device at education and business users, and the current device has effectively a beta OS, and that Amazon and Best Buy numbers don’t include what Google sold to education, businesses, and libraries which were sold on subscription.
There is clearly a big untapped consumer market for this device once Google decides to Market it seriously to consumers.
Dacve:
Thanks for your thoughts. A few perspectives in response: TalkinCloud has certainly pointed out that Chromebooks were off to a slow start. When the price cuts came in December we openly speculated that Chromebooks could be in trouble. But some resellers have since signed up.
I’m not guaranteeing success for Chromebooks. But comparing Chromebooks to the RIM Playbook flop is apples vs. oranges.
Chromebooks could fail and Google will still be fine. RIM spent millions marketing the Playbook on TV and elsewhere. RIM was desperate to make Playbook a success because the company’s established revenue streams were drying up. Big difference from Google…
-jp
Joe: Not to forget Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 – several hundred million dollars on marketing and a patent protection racket aimed at it’s main rival Android (and Chromebooks too), and still dire sales numbers.
Anyway Microsoft seems to regard Chromebooks sufficient a threat as to risk getting thrown in the dock again for anticompetitive use of patent racketeering over Chromebooks. Also Dixons the UK’s largest consumer electronics retailer made a bold prediction that by end of 2012 about 10% of computers sold will be Chromebooks. The thing is that while trolls and shills are two to a penny, both Microsoft and Dixons know the Market well, although Microsoft has obvious reasons to mislead on this.
If you watch Samsungs Facebook page, there is this simple question: smile if you use a Samsung laptop, and reply which one you use. Out of 40 reactions, 3 people said ‘Chromebook!’. Fun thing is, you probably expect none. It is a very un-scientific approach, but 7,5% of those facebookreaders actually used a Chromebook.
I predict the Chromebook to have a slow growing but good future. They just FEEL good, people recommend them to each other. It’s not very easy to put your finger on the pro’s, it’s just that once people got one, they are hooked. It works. I think Google made a well-aimed shot with this product. And they stick to their vision: all webbased.
Riel: Agreed — not a scientific survey but the chatter is very interesting. Curious to see if Samsung and Acer start saying more in the market about Chromebooks. During the CompTIA Breakaway conference in August 2011, an Acer VP told attendees that Google’s big focus involves Chromebook engagements with 2,000 customer seats or more. We’ll keep watching to see if those customers emerge…
-jp
Riel: 7.5% of Samsung’s customers? Quite possible – given how long Chromebooks have been on Amzon’s bestsellers list, and other Samsung laptops haven’t.
I don’t think Chromebooks are selling in that huge numbers yet since they aren’t seriously marketing it as a consumer device, but when they do and when is specified and priced cheaply enough for the consumer market rather than schools and businesses, I am sure it will be a big success, although not for everyone.
That’s it. It’s not for everyone. It does not cover 100% of the possibilities of a device, far from it.
But as the possibilities of the webbased applications grow further, the need for something else gets smaller. I think that is a fact.
SPP, Riel: We’ll try to find/develop some Chromebook case studies. Would love to hear what the large scale testers/deployment managers are saying…
-jp
Joe,
Please find bellow interesting article about real life experiences with the Chromebook and IPad writen by the school IT administrator. I believe article title tells all:
http://www.joewoodonline.com/can-i-trade-the-ipads-for-chromebooks/
AK
Hi Alex,
For some reason I’m getting a 404 error when I click the link. Same thing happens when I Google search the article and try to access it from there. Would love to read the article. Let me know if you find an active link. And thanks for your readership.
-jp
I would strongly consider a Chromebook for my next computer. It’s all the majority of us need for our computers at home, and while there are cheaper netbooks on the market, you can buy a really nice piece of hardware for a great price when it comes to a Chromebook. I think that’s a pretty damn good trade off. At the end of the day, the $350 Samsung will last for a really long time, while some cheap $350-400 Windows laptop will be lucky to chug along for a year or so before it fries.
Ryan,
Generally speaking I believe Google Chromebooks should offer more investment protection than Netbooks. But I’m wondering: What makes you so optimistic about Chromebooks? Are you a current Chromebook user and/or have you tested them?-jp
They are in stock on Amazon now and I wouldn’t really worry about them being out of stock anyways as I could use a little tip I picked up from http://www.squidoo.com/watchmyitems
John G., Thanks for that URL. Worth a bookmark/favorites.
-jp
Cheers Joe, glad you found it useful.