Category: Education

While the growth rate of Chrome OS in the United States K-12 education sector has slowed, it is still the dominant platform according to the latest sales analysis from Futuresource.  The consulting firm released their quarterly K-12 market analysis and it points to Google’s platform holding a commanding 59.8% market share for the third quarter of this year.  That’s up 2% over the second quarter and is up 2.1% over 2016.

The numbers certainly show that the penetration of the platform into the K-12 market has slowed significantly, thanks both to market maturity as well as an influx of competition from both Apple and Microsoft.  Both companies have made strategic investments into getting a piece of the education pie in the US but both still have a long way to go.  Microsoft’s Windows platform is a distant 2nd place at 22.3% market share while Apple sits at 17% if you combine both MacOS and iOS.

Futuresource Consulting has released their annual report on mobile PCs in the education sector, noted as K-12 here in the United States.  Overall, shipments grew 18% in 2016 over the previous year with Chrome OS taking 58% of the market share in the sector.  That marks an 8% increase from 2015 and further establishes its stronghold in the sector.

The strong combination of affordable devices, productivity tools via G-Suite, easy integration with third party platforms/tools, task management/distribution via Google Classroom and easy device management remains extremely popular with US teachers and IT buyers alike. The rise of Chromebooks has also set new industry benchmarks with regards to average device pricing, with prices reaching as low as $120 on certain projects.

The report indicates that the brunt of the gains by Chrome OS were at the cost of Apple technologies.  MacOS in the education sector dropped 1% year-over-year while iOS took a 5% hit.  Microsoft Windows remained at 22% market share.