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Gartner: Chromebooks to "Nearly Triple" by 2017

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Gartner reports global 2014 Chromebook sales will reach 5.2 million units with 79% growth, before reaching 14.4m units by 2017, as the education, business and consumer segments demand Google-powered low-cost notebooks.

"Competition in the Chromebook market is intensifying as more vendors launch Chromebooks, with eight models in the market in 2014," the analyst says. "Now that the PC market is no longer growing strongly, vendors are searching for new business opportunities."

Gartner Chromebooks

The consumer segment accounts over 50% of global 2014 Chromebook sales. In the US the chief Chromebook sales driver is education, accounting for nearly 85% of 2013 sales in the continent.

However Gartner points out an opportunity within specific business workers, such as banking staff, financial services, estate agents and hotel receptionists.

When it comes to vendors, early Chromebook investors Samsung and Acer lead the global 2013 market with 64.9% and 21.4% share respectively. HP follows with 6.8% share, while Lenovo accounts for 6.7%.

"Chromebooks will remain a niche market during the next 5 years," Gartner concludes. "To reach a wider audience, vendors need to offer better features that address cloud-based usage patterns-- faster connectivity, faster memory access, faster and larger solid-state drives, and strong user support in the education, business and consumer segments."

Go Gartner Says Chromebook Sales Will Reach 5.2m in 2014