Google Pushes Chrome OS Software, with or without Chromebooks

Google has announced new Chromebook laptops and an intriguing new device called the Chromebit that pushes Google’s operating system without trying to sell you a laptop.

Google’s mobile operating system may be the most popular software in the world for powering phones and tablets.

But Google is also making a push for its other operating system, Chrome OS, which mostly powers laptop and desktop computers.

Consider a few of the new devices the search giant announced Tuesday.

The Asus Chromebit is a small device that looks like an oversize flash drive that turns any screen or monitor with an HDMI video port into a full-blown computer.

With the Chromebit, you can connect to a Wi-Fi network and run Google’s Chrome browser, check Gmail and watch YouTube — all through Google’s Chrome operating system.

The device will sell for less than $100, Google said. It’s set to be released this summer.

Then there’s the Asus Chromebook Flip, an all-metal device that’s a cross between a laptop computer and a tablet, which will sell for $249. Google also announced two new laptops from manufacturers Hisense and Haier.

The companies’ $149 Chromebooks, designed for the education market, are available for pre-order today on Google’s online store. The Haier laptop is available on Amazon, while the Hisense one is available at Walmart.

Those products are all part of Google’s effort to get its Chrome OS — and by extension, its suite of software products like Gmail and Google Docs — into the hands of as many people as it can. That includes trying to reach students in classrooms, as well as people from emerging markets like India and Thailand.

The company said it will release around 10 new Chromebooks in the next few months.

“Our goal is not just to sell some of these products, but to make computing accessible to more people,” said Caesar Sengupta, a vice president of product management at Google.

Google first introduced the Chromebook laptop in 2011, but its market share remains small. Of all laptops sold worldwide in 2014, only 3.5 percent were running Google’s Chrome OS, according to research firm IDC. PCs running Microsoft’s Windows software, the market leader, accounted for 86 percent of laptops sold, while Apple’s MacBook notebooks had an 8.7 percent share.

But Chrome OS devices have gotten much better traction in the education market in the United States. In 2014, Chromebooks accounted for about one third of the education market with a 29.9 percent share. Windows still had the majority with 39 percent, while Apple had 32 percent, according to IDC.