Chromebooks' success punches Microsoft in the gut
Amazon, NPD Group trumpet sales of the bare-bones laptops in 2013 to consumers and businesses — Chromebooks had a very good year, according to retailer Amazon.com and industry analysts. — And that's bad news for Microsoft.
Context & Ripple Effects
The 2013 Chromebook story started early: in January, Acer reported that Chrome was selling while its Windows machines failed to drive sales, an early signal from one OEM that the cheap browser-laptop category had real demand. What Amazon and NPD Group add this week is confirmation at retail scale — strong 2013 sell-through to both consumers and businesses, not just a single vendor's anecdote.
The breadth of pickup is itself a signal: NPD data traveled through ZDNet, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and even Apple-focused outlets like 9to5Mac and Daring Fireball, meaning the story registered beyond the Google-watching crowd. For Microsoft, the threat is specific — Chromebooks occupy exactly the low-end notebook price band where Windows license revenue has historically been least contested.
First-order effects
- Microsoft loses paid Windows licenses on every Chromebook sold through channels like Amazon, with the damage concentrated in the budget notebook segment where margins were already thinnest.
- OEMs such as Acer gain a working volume business in laptops that carry no Windows license fee, changing what those manufacturers ask Microsoft for in pricing and terms.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft and its OEM partners face pressure to counter with cheaper Windows hardware in the same sub-$300 band, risking further margin compression on machines that do still carry Windows.
- Retailers and commercial buyers now treat Chromebooks as a stocked, quotable category rather than a curiosity, which forces IT procurement conversations about where browser-only devices are 'good enough' — directly against low-end Windows deployments.
Third-order effects
- If consumer and business acceptance holds, the low end of the PC market restructures around device-plus-cloud-service economics instead of per-device OS licensing, pushing Microsoft to defend its install base through services and pricing rather than the license itself.
- Sustained Chromebook traction would also give Google a beachhead in managed computing — particularly attractive to cost-sensitive buyers like schools and small businesses — that extends beyond hardware into accounts, apps, and administration.
The trend: The PC market is splitting into a licensed-Windows premium tier and a browser-based commodity tier sold on price, with Chromebooks claiming the latter faster than Microsoft's licensing model can comfortably follow.