Monica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai

 

Although Chromebooks offered by Acer and Samsung Electronics may see low cumulative sales of 25,000-30,000 units at the end of 2011, HTC is evaluating the feasibility of combining the advantages of Chrome OS and Android for use in Internet-access devices, products between tablet PCs and netbooks, according to component makers. However, Acer and HTC did not respond when asked for comment.

Although Google's Chrome OS has advantages over its ability to operate under both x86 and ARM and fast boot up times, since Windows-based netbooks and entry-level notebooks currently still outmatch Chrome OS-based devices in terms of price and specifications, notebook players are mostly taking a conservative attitude about the potential of Chrome OS.

Currently, Acer's 11.6-inch AC700 Chromebook, made by Quanta Computer, is priced at US$349 in the US with Samsung also having several models with prices starting US$429.

The sources pointed out that the price of Chromebooks will need to drop to around US$199 to be able to attract consumers, but such a strategy will strongly impact the devices' overall gross margins.