Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is trying to increase the appeal of its very successful Chromebook by starting to market it more aggressively to the enterprise market. This marks a significant change in strategy as until now Google was focused primarily on getting Chromebooks into as many schools as it possibly could. This was very practical because the Chromebook is attractive not only for schools but also for a lot of parents as it provides a low cost, portable and relatively sturdy web browsing box with a few bells and whistles.
The move into the workplace may not be so smooth, however, as most companies need computers that can cope with a bit more than the Chromebook provides. In a rather opportunistic move, Google is offering an additional $100 discount on any Chromebook purchase through its enterprise plan to celebrate the end of Windows providing security updates and support for any remaining Windows XP users.
Chromebook does not use the Windows operating system and instead uses Chrome OS which has an optional VMware program available that provides a virtual environment where users are able to run their Windows apps. With the additional discount, any company purchasing Chromebooks with the VMware for Chrome OS will get a total of $200 discounted from each unit purchased.
As well as the Chromebook discount, Google has also announced a 25% discount on all purchases of Citrix XenApp Platinum Edition, a tool that enables XP users who wish to change to a Chromebook to easily migrate their data between the two different operating systems. Google has made all of these discounts available for the next three months, and they will expire on June 30th.
