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Michael Scrip
On The Verge since Nov 01, 2011
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You missed the point.
Is the Samsung Chromebook the best-selling laptop on Amazon? YES
Is the Samsung Chromebook the best-selling laptop in the world? HELL NO
In fact… the last report I saw a few months ago said that only 500,000 Chromebooks have been sold in total since 2010. And that includes all Chromebooks from Samsung, ASUS and Acer.
There’s no way the Samsung Chromebook is anything close to being the best-selling laptop in the world.
So… does being the #1 laptop on Amazon really mean anything at all?
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the Kindle Fire is doing pretty well, I believe only the iPad and (possibly, not sure about this) the Nexus 7 have sold more.
Since Amazon doesn’t report any sales numbers… all we have are estimates.
But the following tablet estimates are so far apart… it’s not even funny.
Holiday 2012 Quarter:
Apple – 22 million
Amazon – 6 millionYeah… it’s safe to say that the iPad has sold more ;)
And yet Kindle Fire models have dominated the top spots on Amazon’s best-selling tablet chart since it launched.
Now do you see why Amazon’s best-seller charts have little to no bearing on the market as a whole?
So… getting back to the Samsung Chromebook. It might be the #1 laptop on Amazon… but I doubt it’s making any waves in the real world.
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Recommended onwu's comment in Chromebooks are coming to three times as many stores, including Walmart, Staples, and more
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Oh I’m aware of the “best seller on Amazon” title.
And I’m also aware that it is a very narrow, incomplete view of the market as a whole… and it should not be used to estimate sales of a single product like the Samsung Chromebook.
If you just looked at the Amazon Chart… for instance… it appears that the Samsung Chromebook is outselling the Macbook Air.
It is… but only on Amazon.
Elsewhere in the world… Apple actually sells a million Macbook Airs every quarter.
So… it appears that the Samsung Chromebook is the best seller on Amazon… but it fails to be the best seller anywhere else.
See the difference?
That’s why it’s not a good idea to estimate the sales of a product by using the Amazon Chart.
Being “#1 on Amazon” doesn’t really carry a lot of weight. We don’t even know how that translates into actual sales.
Throughout this thread people are saying the Samsung Chromebook is doing well because:
- “it’s sold out at every Best Buy I go to…”
- “look… it’s #1 at Amazon!”
That doesn’t say anything at all…
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“Best-selling” is yet another poor indicator of sales performance.
The Kindle Fire has always been the best-selling tablet on Amazon… but it is only a blip in the grand scheme of things.
Again… just because something is “sold out” or it’s the “best-selling” item on some list… it doesn’t really mean anything in the long run.
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they’ve been out of stock for weeks. So I would say they are moving briskly, too.
Or those stores didn’t receive that many to begin.
I remember hearing stories of a some Android tablet never being in stock at Best Buy… but there were dozens of iPads in the cage.
The consensus was that the iPad wasn’t selling very well.
Then the numbers came out… and Apple actually sold 20 million iPads that quarter.
In-store stock or being sold out is a poor way to guess sales numbers
There are over 1000 Best Buy stores. How many Samsung Chromebooks do you think get shipped to each one?
I’m guessing not many.
The Samsung Chromebook is a very low-margin product for Samsung. It’s a very niche device too. I imagine Samsung would rather sell you one of their other higher-margin laptops.
That’s probably why you don’t see too many Samsung Chromebooks in stores.
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You might not be claiming it’s the best laptop for everyone, but The Verge certainly is.
The quote did say “normal person”
And I agree.
No need for mom or grandma to pay extra for a Retina Macbook Pro and get extra pixels she won’t see or appreciate.
The Macbook Air is the entry-level laptop from Apple… that sure sounds like the normal-person laptop to me.
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I loved Buick’s implementation of a touchscreen in the 1980’s
A foot-deep, 20 pound, CRT !!!
But even back then they were smart enough to have physical buttons…
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We’re good, man.
I wasn’t aware of the update part.
I didn’t really pay attention to Google I/O this year. Was expecting to hear about the next food version ;)
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I acknowledged every part of your comments.
If I didn’t respond to every single part… I apologize.
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And like I said before, but you strangely didn’t comment that…
Geez…. forgive me for not addressing every single bullet-point in your comments.
And thank you for the info.
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The manufacturers already have to do some tweaking to make the now current version of Android work on a brand new phone.
Will they take the time to put the next version of Android onto a then older phone?
The manufacturers won’t see another dime until a person buys another phone anyway… so I honestly don’t see the incentive to spend resources to update an older phone. Some manufacturers do… and that’s awesome. But the real money is made only when you buy a new phone.
That chart above is made up of new and old phones. Of course new phones will be shipping with the current version of Android.
But there are still plenty of older phones running Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread. The manufacturers clearly aren’t putting a lot of effort into getting older phones onto the newest version of Android. If they did… that chart wouldn’t be so heavily populated by Android from 2 or 3 versions ago.
Right now “Android” is a mix of Jellybean, Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread.
Eventually it will be a mix of Key Lime Pie, Jellybean, Ice Cream Sandwich and probably still some Gingerbread.
Like I said before… there will always be a healthy percentage of Android phones not running the current version.
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Yeah sorry… I get a little crazy sometimes! :)
Those devices you linked come with the latest version of Android today. That’s good.
But will they get the next version of Android?
If not… they will join a whole list of phones that don’t get updated. And that’s why there are always a healthy percentage of the Android installed base made up of old versions.
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Oh I know fragmentation exists.
I said that in my very first comment in this thread.
You’re right… we probably don’t know about every single phone that gets updated across the globe.
But I’m guessing the $80 phones sold in China and India probably aren’t on the Jellybean list. And there are a lot of those.
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It matches the look of the app though.
I don’t like the look of the icon or the app… to be honest.
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So I’ll shift my hand to reach the top of the screen with my thumb.
Or, gasp, use two hands. That’s really not a problem for me… as I have stated.
But no… Apple wants to keep their phones small.
And that makes me unhappy.
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Yeah… bad wording on my part.
I wasn’t really talking about the figures on the chart. I was talking more about specific models.
You named a dozen models… and I’ve heard of all of them. And it’s great they will be upgraded to Jellybean.
Now what about the hundreds of other Android models out in the world? The phones from companies you’ve never heard of?
Android is made up of more than just phones from Samsung, LG and Sony.
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You’re just proving that on an iPhone you can choose to use 1 or 2 hands, depending on the situation, but with Android you have to sacrifice one handed use… THAT’S THE POINT
Maybe I’m willing to sacrifice some one-handed tasks… for other things like larger video playback. Or an uncramped keyboard. Or larger Kindle reading. Or anything else you get from a larger screen.
But no… Apple has made the decision for me.
I’ve tried my hands on all sorts of larger phones. Not once was the screen too large for me to enjoy the phone.
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Yeah… I’m aware there are tradeoffs. I’m ready to deal with them.
Tim Cook is not… and therefore the iPhone is stuck at one size.
I can see their point… there is only one iPhone per year… and it’s a big deal. They don’t want to piss off their user-base.
Maybe offering more than one iPhone will be the solution. Apple offers other products in different sizes… maybe it’s time to extend that to the phone.
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So is Apple putting “one-handed use” above all other considerations?
In that case… since our thumbs aren’t getting any longer… I guess the iPhone will be 4" forever.
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Good point!
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Exactly.
I find it strange that Apple can make 2 sizes of iPads… 2 sizes of iMacs… and at one time 4 sizes of laptops…
But their phone is “this is it… deal with it”
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But the Android fans never break it out like that.
They always just say “Android is winning!”
I’d love to see a breakdown of Android smartphones from $450 and up… to see how they really stack up against Apple.
Instead… “Android market share” includes all those $80 phones sold in China and India… as well as flagship phones.
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Agreed.
Apple’s bezels kinda suck.
Samsung was able to put a much bigger screen in a phone that’s only slightly bigger… thanks to smaller bezels.
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And if I’m sitting in a chair… I have both hands free. Phone in my left palm… and using my right index finger to browse.
My index finger is much more accurate than my thumb anyway. I actually think index fingers were meant for pressing things and clicking things. Some would call it a “pointer finger”
Look… we can go round and round on here… and still get nowhere.
I prefer to use my smartphone/pocket-computer with 2 hands… so the “one-handed” factor doesn’t really interest me.
I can still text and flick through Vine with one thumb if I have to.
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Apple went from a 3.5" 3:2 screen to a 4" 16:9 screen.
I’m pretty sure the aspect ratio is settled on 16:9…. but is 4" the max?
And what does Apple know about one-handed comfort that EVERY other electronic manufacturer doesn’t?
Tim Cook made a big deal about tradeoffs. Well… your thumb can’t stretch any further… so I guess 4" is it…
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No single Android flagship has… but a collection of Android phones outsell the iPhone every single quarter.
It’s not exactly a fair fight though… ;)
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Good point.
For years we’ve been lead to believe that the iPhone is the perfect size for one-handed use… and that anything larger is completely unusable.
I’m getting the feeling that there are plenty of people who go shopping and ride subways with phones 4.3" or larger.
In other words… Apple’s full of shit.
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That raises another issue.
40% of Android is Gingerbread or below… on cheap, old, or low-specced phones.
And Android’s installed base is HUGE… so that 40% is actually a massive amount of users.
How come no one ever mentions that whenever we argue about market share?
40% of Android is garbage phones… which is actually hundreds of millions of phones.
Android fans love to mention how a couple of flagship phones are beating Apple… but they never say anything about the truckloads of crappy phones that actually make up a significant part of Android.
Shouldn’t those weigh against Android?
:)
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but it’s better to try to figure out how something costs off-contract globally, then to try to figure out its US price.
They sorta already do that.
Right now the iPhone retails off-contract for $650, $550, $450
And the US the on-contract price is $199, $99, $1
But you’re right… how will they price a cheaper $350 phone in the US? Or a $250 phone?
It’s gonna screw up their pricing.
