Google is giving businesses and schools a new way to pay for its Chromebooks, those new-age laptops that move most applications and data into the browser.
On Friday, the company announced that businesses and schools can now pay up front for the machines rather than purchasing a three-year subscription -- which was the lone option when the machines were introduced this past summer.
With the new up-front option, you get the machine itself as well as a year of phone support, hardware warranty coverage, and access to Google's web-based admin management console, according to a blog post from Chrome product manager Glenn Wilson. After the first year, you can pay a monthly fee for two more years of support and management console access.
The announcement comes less than four months after the release of the laptops, which are manufactured by Acer and Samsung. The machines are sold to consumers through retail outfits such as Best Buy, TigerDirect and Amazon, while businesses and schools purchase directly from Google.
Previously, businesses and schools bought Chromebooks with a three-year subscription, starting at $28 per month for businesses and $20 per month for educational institutions. With the new pricing scheme, educational institutions will pay significantly less than businesses for the first year of service ($449 for the Wi-Fi versions of the laptops, $519 for the 3G versions) and in the subsequent two years ($5/month). Businesses can purchase the Wi-Fi machines for $559 and the 3G machines for $639, and an additional subscription is priced at $13 per month.
Chromebooks are meant for use with Google Apps, the company's suite of online office applications, which have long been free to educational institutions. Google is smart enough to realize that if students are using its tools today, businesses are more likely to use them tomorrow. The company boasts that 61 of the nation's top 100 universities utilize Google Apps in some form.
But Google has not disclosed sales or uptake figures for the Chromebook. We asked again just recently, but the company declined to provide specific figure. Rajen Sheth, who oversees the Chromebooks for Business program pointed out that the laptops are still just four months old.
