Opinion: Why promoting ChromeBooks is killing Android tablets

August 13, 2011 By Rob Enderle

Google’s efforts to promote two very similar products are diluting its efforts and confusing buyers, making the company its own worst enemy.

I’m traveling to Boston this week, and flying my favorite airline: Virgin America. One of the perks on the flight this week is that Google is loaning out ChromeBooks to anyone who wants them for free, including free Wi-Fi. The funny thing is that despite multiple announcements, few people took them up on this free offer. As I look around the plane (where I’m writing this), a number of folks are on laptops and iPads, so it isn’t as if folks didn’t want to be online. Given that Android tablets haven’t been doing all that well either, I think this helps illustrate a fundamental weakness in Google. Even though the company is clearly made up of people, and makes its money from advertising, Google doesn’t seem to understand how to create excitement. Yet, Google+ had plenty of excitement, demonstrating that Google is capable of it. Let’s explore why Google is at the root of the demand issues with Android Tablets, and why ChromeBooks are these tablets’ worst enemy.

The advantage of focus

Watch Apple. The company will focus on a new product nearly exclusively until it succeeds. It waited until the iPod started to slow before bringing out the iPhone, and then largely shifted marketing to that new platform. It didn’t start the iPad until the iPhone was clearly a success. The firm is methodical about driving all the way to the success of one product before moving to another.

This is the advantage of focus. Apple TV didn’t get that same focus, and despite actually being the best set-top box (besides those from cable companies), it hasn’t done that well. This suggests that it isn’t some magic related to Apple products, but the fact that Apple drives success into its offerings, and doesn’t get distracted until that drive has hit Apple’s expectations.

Google tosses and prays

Google, by contrast, seems to have a new initiative every few months. Most of these (Wave, etc.) seem to fail from lack of interest. Google doesn’t drive to success, and appears to have the attention span of a small child. Android tablets aren’t successful yet, but Google has already started to push ChromeBooks. Arguably, this just confuses buyers. If you think about it, even though they run on different software, the ChromeBook and Android Tablet overlap in price and their connectivity advantages. But having two very different software platforms both splits developers and confuses the buyer, reducing demand and benefitting Apple, which looks simple by comparison. If you add a keyboard to an iPad, you effectively get the benefits of an Android Tablet and a Chromebook in one product, and you only have to live in one interface. Developers have an easy choice.

If Google had been giving out Android tablets on the plane, rather than ChromeBooks, more passengers likely would have taken them. Android tablets dovetail with the iPad’s success, while the ChromeBooks look too much like the early failed netbook effort. People aren’t taking the Google offer because, even for free, it isn’t worth it for them. They just don’t see the value because Google hasn’t first created any demand for a new product, and what demand there is focused on the iPad.

Google’s problem

The irony here is that Steve Jobs actually mentored the Google founders, who just seemed to steal Apple’s product ideas but clearly didn’t grasp the more important information: how to build and sustain demand for new technology products. Without that skill, they become their own worst enemy, because they have a tendency to pull demand from the very products they should be aggressively trying to complete and promote.

Until Google figures that out, the company will likely remain its own worst enemy. This is why seeding ChromeBooks is killing Android Tablets.

Guest contributor Rob Enderle is the founder and principal analyst for the Enderle Group, and one of the most frequently quoted tech pundits in the world. Opinion pieces denote the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of Digital Trends.

Showing 28 comments

Salvatore Orrico Lapaglia at 9:44am 30th September 2011 how did my comment relate to anything thats going on here
Salvatore Orrico Lapaglia at 9:44am 30th September 2011 how did my comment relate to anything thats going on here
KingSalibah at 11:07pm 17th August 2011 Okay, you guys are all quite funny. I think Google is an innovative company. They don't really survey their products, but they don't really care either. If something becomes successful they push it further. Android is a good example. They will probably be right on the money in a few years with Chromebooks, always online. Too bad it doesn't have 4G, but hey sooner or later the world will catch up with Google on it. So in the mean time, chill, use your iPad for now and a few years from now you'll get something else anyway, neither an iPad or a Chromebook, at least not in its current version as technology will change. But I agree that in its current form Chromebooks isn't worth the price.
Garmon Estes at 7:37pm 14th August 2011 Yep, ChromeBooks are copying Apple's iCloud. Oh Wait! No, Chrome OS came out before iCloud. Actually, iCloud hasn't officially been released except to devs. Umm, OK then Google has slavishly copied Apple's products. Yeah, those search products that Apple makes. I mean those open source (Apache 2) operating systems that Apple makes. Wait, iOS is under a proprietary EULA. Crap!!
Tav-El at 1:36pm 14th August 2011 Google has already stated that, at the time, Android and Chrome are two separate products but they also suggest that at some time in the future, they will merge into one. I can't speak on whether I would have bought a Chromebook. I don't have a job so I'm not buying anything new. But I got one for free (and to that, I don't think Apple ever gave anything away) and I use it all the time. My screenwriting program is the only thing I can't use on it. But I will never buy another PC. I don't need offline. Where exactly do I need to go that I don't have internet? If I'm there, I likely still have phone service so I'll use my smartphone which I need anyway. And if there isn't phone service then I probably need to work on getting myself out of the area and a computer with offline capability isn't going to help that, is it? Fact is, it's all moving to tablets. But they're still really expensive and not as practical for the average consumer so netbooks are still viable products.
Per Bergman at 10:33am 14th August 2011 Apple will soon launch iCloud based macbook i would say give about 2 years.
Joel at 9:53am 14th August 2011 The Chromebook project may fail, but that doesn't mean it isn't a very worthwhile endeavor that may be a decade or two ahead of it's time. Keep in mind the Apple Newton failed but you see where we are now with smartphones and tablets.Many of you make the argument that "it's only a web browser." Well we're increasingly getting to the point where that's the only thing that matters. It's just that we're only on the cusp of web development that enables the creation of products that function as well as desktop apps, and in many ways function better in an increasingly connected world. It's pretty common that I'll balk at paying for a piece of software because it doesn't have a web interface.The way I see it Android tablets are a product line that exists to address the current state of mobile devices in the present day, and Chrome OS is a means to develop the underpinnings of an application ecosystem that will come into it's own in the next decade. The laptop formfactor is somewhat irrelevant. It's the idea behind Chrome OS that is important.
Matt Weber at 8:05pm 13th August 2011 I like Rob's comment about how the Google founders just seem to steal ideas from Jobs, but didn't grasp the concepts. Did you read "In the Plex" or pick bits of apple insider? I mean that search box on the Google homepage was kind of popular, wasn't it? A lot of people copy Apple, but let's not give Jobs credit for everything now. After all, he takes credit for other people's apples as well. Most of those "magical" apps in the commercials are 3rd Party creations. They are just tiny touch screen computers (made in China) that look cool.
Walter Wrye at 12:40pm 13th August 2011 not buying this, the thing killing android tablets is inferiority
1. TechFreak at 9:33am 14th August 2011 Agreed. And lack of Apps.
AliOmar at 11:48am 13th August 2011 Android Tablets will fly with versions 3.2 while Chromebooks is more natural for the next Internet/Intranet Cloud for Enterprise, mainly businesx
Salvatore Orrico Lapaglia at 6:16pm 13th August 2011 I wish alitalia had free wifi. That would be good the flight from Chicago to Rome is a mid to long flight
Salvatore Orrico Lapaglia at 6:16pm 13th August 2011 I wish alitalia had free wifi. That would be good the flight from Chicago to Rome is a mid to long flight
Bradley James at 6:11pm 13th August 2011 While I think there is definite merit in what you're saying (I have a Xoom so won't be getting a ChromeBook anytime soon) I think you're setup is one dimensional. People who want to be connected on a plane generally own and travel with their own connected devices, and the majority of those who don't have them, likely don't want to be online all the time. Not everyone lives and breaths a connected lifestyle like us, and those that do generally come prepared!
Bradley James at 6:11pm 13th August 2011 While I think there is definite merit in what you're saying (I have a Xoom so won't be getting a ChromeBook anytime soon) I think you're setup is one dimensional. People who want to be connected on a plane generally own and travel with their own connected devices, and the majority of those who don't have them, likely don't want to be online all the time. Not everyone lives and breaths a connected lifestyle like us, and those that do generally come prepared!
Bernard Boulanger at 5:56pm 13th August 2011 I really do agree... and I do not understand Google's strategy... Hence ChromeBooks will not enter the big market soon, public is not prepared...
Bernard Boulanger at 5:56pm 13th August 2011 I really do agree... and I do not understand Google's strategy... Hence ChromeBooks will not enter the big market soon, public is not prepared...
TechGuyChris at 10:37am 13th August 2011 There is no place in Wichita for me to personally try a Google Chromebook. I can only go based off what others say on the Internet.After analyzing the situation, I can actually agree with the author. Google touts these as business notebooks, but they were giving them out for free to browse the Internet and to check out the notebook itself (which is nothing moer than a web browser)To the previous commenters who blasted the author, ask yourself, why would I do business work on a laptop I will have to give back?? The way they were touting these at the airport, go against their own marketing...I agree with rob enderleTech Guy Chris
TechFreak at 10:28am 13th August 2011 ChromeBook is dead. It's a failed product by Google. There are no good reviews of them out there and no one has any interest in paying $400+ for a laptop that does nothing other than surf the web.Terrible, stupid product.
1. foo at 7:52pm 13th August 2011 The interesting thing here is that many people buy a Win7 Laptop instead but use ChromeBook features only. I would suggest we wait a year until ChromeBooks got full offline functionality and judge again. After all the ChromeBooks are currently in the T-Mobile G1 stage of Android and it's played the same way by Google.
  1. TechFreak at 9:33am 14th August 2011 I would agree with this. For the same price as a Chromebook you can get a fully-functioning Netbook with Windows 7, and just use the Chrome OS as a dual boot if you wanted. The Chromebooks just arent priced that well for having cuh limited features.
iDeving at 10:00am 13th August 2011 OP - take down your article and paste it into a opinion blog. You cannot grasp the concept of innovation marketing for each of its own. The above article does not in any way represent any situation that google is currently in. The technologies sell themselves, google could send you paper flyers and you would still buy their tablet/notebook/desktop/phone so stfu
1. TechFreak at 10:33am 13th August 2011 Its a failed product. No one is buying it.
Kirth Gersen at 9:47am 13th August 2011 you couldn't be more wrong on so many levels:You completely missed what Chromebooks are and why they're designed like this. The TCO and almost no management they require is their key feature. They're mainly aimed at knowledge workers within enterprises and are not general 'media consumption' devices like Tablets are. You're comparing apples and oranges so to say.But the most important thing is that, unlike Apple, the core business of Google isn't to sell hardware or software. So why Google is promoting both devices went completely over your head.Please DT, add some 'personal opinion' warning or tag to that article.
1. iDeving at 10:01am 13th August 2011 ^^ this guy knows whats up
2. Ian Bell at 10:23am 13th August 2011 Hi Kirth,There is a Tag at the bottom of the piece:Guest contributor Rob Enderle is the founder and principal analyst for the Enderle Group, and one of the most frequently quoted tech pundits in the world. Opinion pieces denote the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of Digital Trends.I will add "Opinion" to the title
3. TechFreak at 10:36am 13th August 2011 "The TCO and almost no management they require is their key feature. " Sot he fact that you can do nothing with them is their key feature? It requires an internet connection, so lets have users play with them in-flight where the internet connection is spotty and slow. Dumb idea Google.
bmovie at 9:24am 13th August 2011 Chromebooks for pleasure on an airline seem to fly in the opposite direction of their "inexpensive business and institution alternative via the net" use. When you try to please everybody, you please no one.