Samsung bets Chromebook use to grow 4x in 2014

Samsung is expecting the use of Chromebooks in UK schools to explode during 2014, as the firm aims to replicate its consumer market success in the education sector.

Chromebooks are expected to be the biggest growth area for the Korean electronics giant's education devices this year, Ben Brown, education business manager at Samsung told IT Pro.

"We've seen massive uptake of Chromebooks in general - in the US usage is at 20 per cent after two years and in the UK it's 3 per cent in 12 months," he explained.

"In 2014, the demand for Chromebooks is expected to quadruple in the UK."

It is estimated there are 25,000 Chromebooks being used in UK schools, with Brown claiming Samsung has cornered 90 per cent of the market - which includes other heavyweights such as Acer, HP, Lenovo and now Dell.

Brown explained Chromebooks have proven popular with schools for three reasons: the low cost of ownership, security and collaboration.

"Chromebooks cost 250 over the course of three years and Samsung is offering an extra year of warranty on top of that. The devices are fully managed - every keystroke is logged and auditable via Google Vault. This ensures children don't bully each other and teachers are also protected.

"In terms of collaboration - multiple students can work on a project within Google Docs at the same time, and because the cloud allows students to access content anywhere."

Samsung also revealed that it is in discussions to deploy 250 Note Pro tablets to a school in Guildford. The device, which launches on the 6 February, features a 12.2in (2560 x 1600) display, allowing A4 content to be displayed without the need to scroll. It will also ship with Android KitKat 4.4, support remote connection to desktops and allow multitasking with up to four apps on the screen at the same time.