Google Chromebooks now with another payment option
After gauging consumer response, Google has now introduced another option of payment for Chromebooks, especially for education and business-related organizations. At the time of its launch, schools and businesses were offered these devices for a monthly payment options.
Upon introduction, Google had offered special pricing for schools and business houses. Schools could start with $20 (approx. Rs. 996) per month/student while businesses were presented with an option of $28 (approx. Rs. 1,395) per month/user. Launched four months ago, this included the Chromebook, a web-based management console and all day support from Google for these rates.
However, now Google is presenting the same category of organizations with another mode of payment which covers an option of upfront payment for the first year. According to this, Chromebook for educational purposes will be offered for a first year upfront payment of $449 (approx. Rs. 22,371) for Wi-Fi variant while $519 (approx. Rs. 25,859) for those who prefer 3G.
This will be followed with $5/month per Chromebook (approx. Rs. 249) for management & support. Business organizations will be charged $559 (approx. Rs. 27,852) for Wi-Fi and $639 (approx. Rs. 31,838) for 3G in the first year which will be followed by $13/month per device for management & support (approx. Rs. 647) for the second and third year. With upfront payments, consumers will have access to web-based admin management console, phone support, and hardware warranty coverage.
This decision of the company is said to be spurred by the feedback it has received from users that they work on yearly budgets. Apart from this, the company has also added some new features to the web-based management panel. This will bring to customers better deploy, monitor and customize their Chromebooks, including group policy management, shipment tracking and asset management.
Google Chromebooks are currently available from Acer and Samsung.
