On Tuesday, Google and Intel will announce news involving Google Chromebooks, and there's lots of speculation as to what the news will be.
Some say the two are going to announce a new Google Chromebook tablet, though Google already has a tablet operating system with Android.
Others think that Google might be announcing an update to its high-end Chromebook Pixel, which runs on an Intel chip.
Or they may be announcing a new generation of Chromebooks based on Intel's upcoming Broadwell chip, a faster, lower-power chip that should be powering new devices later this year.
Whatever the news is, it won't be good for Microsoft.
Even though there's not a lot of software available for a Chromebook compared to a Windows PC, Chromebooks are starting to become increasingly popular thanks to their low price. Most Chromebooks are available for under $300.
Lately, Microsoft has been directly targeting Google's Chromebooks in its marketing campaigns. A Chromebook partnership with Intel is also pretty symbolic as PC sales continue their disastrous decline. Intel clearly needs to go where the customers are, and that increasingly appears to be Chromebooks.
For instance:
- Chromebooks now account for 25% of the devices sold into K-12 schools in the U.S., according to Futuresource. In fact, a high school in Maine just announced plans to give a new Chromebook to all of its 1,700 students, reports Main Line Media News.
- Eight PC-makers are now making Chromebooks: Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, and in January Toshiba joined the crowd with its first Chromebook.
- Twenty-one percent of commercial notebooks sold in the U.S. in 2013 were Chromebooks, and Chromebooks represent between 20-25% consumer retail sales of low-cost laptops in the U.S., NPD Group reported in December.
- Two of the three best-selling laptops on Amazon during the 2013 holiday season were Chromebooks.
Plus, Google has really started to reach out toward businesses with Chromebooks and related Chrome OS products.
In February, it announced a deal with VMware for software that will allow companies to run Windows on a Chromebook.
Google also launched a new Chrome OS PC with Asus that does video conferences.
We'll be attending the press conference on Tuesday, so stay tuned for the news.