Google has kicked off phase two of its Chrome OS world domination plan by allowing many more of you to pop into a local store or order a Chromebook online.
On the Chrome blog late last night, Google announced that Chromebooks from Samsung, Acer, and HP will now be available to customers in Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Adding six new markets should give sales a solid boost, particularly when some Chromebook models will be selling for well under $300.
Both online and brick-and-mortar stores will be offering Chromebooks for sale. Canada’s two biggest electronics retailers, Best Buy and Futureshop will be doing both, while HP will sell its new 14-inch Chromebook from its own web store. In the U.S., all 1,000 Best Buy stores in the country will soon have Chromebooks in stock. That includes Google’s slick, expensive, and slightly bizarreChromebook Pixel, which sells for $1,050 more than the store’s next most expensive Chrome OS option.
If, like me, you happen to live in Canada, you may want to take Best Buy up on its special offer. You can purchase Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium for just $79.99 when you buy your Chromebook! You won’t be able to install it, of course, but it’s a heck of a discount and you can always turn around and sell it on eBay or install it on one of your existing Windows machines.
You’ll be getting a free, offline productivity suite soon enough anyways. Google is bringing theQuickOffice apps that debuted on the Chromebook Pixel to the rest of the Chrome OS legion in the coming months.
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