[기자수첩] Korean Chromebook market that became a foreign playground

Enter 2021.02.10 06:00

Chromebooks are a hot topic in the educational PC market. Global PC brands such as HP, Asus, and Acer have announced that you and I will enter the Korean Chromebook market. The new edition is in full swing. In the meantime, I can’t see a native Chromebook.

Chromebook is a cloud-based PC with Chrome OS developed by Google. It’s different from a regular PC that installs apps and stores data on the device itself. Chromebooks contain only ChromeOS, and all apps are installed and executed, and data is stored in Google’s cloud. Thanks to its low price and easy maintenance and updating, it has emerged as a powerhouse for educational PCs, mainly in the US.

In Korea, the Chromebook market has grown little by little since long ago. Founded in 2014, the native start-up’Point to Lab’ launched its own Chromebook one after another, laying the groundwork in the domestic education market. Although it is a new startup, it is one of the only two Chromebook makers certified by Google among Korean native companies. The other is Samsung Electronics.

However, while Samsung Electronics consistently introduced new Chromebooks in the US, it was indifferent to the domestic market. Samsung does not disclose its official position. However, the analysis of the related industry is that it has delayed its launch in the domestic PC market because it cannot expect much profits due to concerns that if it directly launches a low-cost and high-efficiency Chromebook in the domestic PC market, it will erode some of the sales volume of its high-priced premium product line.

In other words, the domestic Chromebook market has been cultivated by a small native startup alone over the years. However, as Acer’s procurement market registration and supply began following the announcement of successive global giants to enter the Korean market, the domestic Chromebook market was in danger of being transferred to foreign brands in no time.

It is interpreted that the Public Procurement Service allowed Acer to enter the domestic market in order to secure a stable volume in response to the rapidly increasing demand for Chromebooks in the domestic education market. In fact, the demand for educational Chromebooks in front-line schools is increasing every year, but it is known that point-to-lab alone cannot meet the demand.

It will be possible to fill the volume of Chromebooks even through foreign products with global production capacity. The problem is after that. After Acer, the global No. 1 Chromebook supplier, HP, etc., enters and begins to push with overwhelming volume and price, it will be difficult for a small native startup to respond. If Samsung is dismissing, and the only struggling domestic company is pushed out, the domestic educational chromebook market is turning into a feast for foreign brands.

That’s not all. Chromebooks also have a variety of lineups ranging from low-cost, low-end products for each brand to high-end products that look like regular PCs. Foreign brands may initially enter the procurement market with mid- to low-priced products, but if the competing domestic companies disappear, they can always replace the supplied products with expensive and expensive products. If this is not properly prevented, front-line schools that have introduced Chromebooks based on “low price” may be forced to use expensive Chromebooks that are expensive compared to features.

The relatively weak post-support of foreign PC brands is also an obstacle. Most of the overseas PC brands are in a situation where they are offering ASs that are one number lower than the domestic average while raising the’global standard’. It is questionable whether it can sufficiently satisfy the demanding domestic consumers and users.

The reason why global PC brands are constantly focusing on the Chromebook market, even though they cannot expect a large profit, is because they see it as an investment for the future. Students who have been familiar with foreign brand products such as HP, Asus, and Acer since childhood are more likely to naturally find high-end PCs of that brand even as adults. Apple’s intention to maximize the effect of brand imprinting targeting young students is hidden in the way that Apple consistently introduces new iPad products that have somehow lowered prices in the education market and even showcases provocative advertisements saying’what is a computer’.

The quality of domestic Chromebooks is not particularly inferior to that of foreign products. The fact that it has been officially certified by Google is because it satisfies the minimum standards required by Google in terms of features and performance. In fact, Point2Lab’s Chromebook products are exported and sold not only in Korea but also overseas. It has its own competitive edge even in the most prominent foreign brands.

Above all, it is a company that knows the domestic education market best as it has grown the domestic Chromebook market alone over the years. It is too wasteful to abandon these native companies and hand over the entire Chromebook market, which has a high growth potential, to foreign brands.

While the government and the Public Procurement Service are opening their doors to foreign brands, there is a need for additional supplementary measures to prevent foreign monopoly in the domestic Chromebook market. Even through a quota system, it is necessary to protect the market for domestic Chromebooks and encourage Samsung, which is only behind the back, to enter the domestic market.

In order to protect the domestic Chromebook market and preserve the brand value in the domestic PC market, Samsung must also turn its eyes to the domestic Chromebook market in a massive way, even if there is no immediate profit. There will be nothing to say even if the smartphone market, which is just by watching like now, is lost to foreign brands as well as the future PC market.

Reporter Choi Yong-seok [email protected]

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