International | Cheryl Waller

Google Chromebooks Go Global: Now Available In Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland And The Netherlands

Google has learned all that it needs to learn about the reception of its Chromebook laptops in the U.S. and UK and has announced availability of Acer, HP and Samsung flavors of its device in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

As we’ve spent time with Google’s Chromebook and OS, it has become apparent that the goal of the operating system is to focus on what people do on a computer the most, which is surf the web in a browser. Since Chrome has become the No. 1 browser, building an operating system that showcases it makes complete sense.

In addition to this global rollout, Chromebooks will now be available in all 1,000+ Best Buy stores that sell PCs in the U.S. Basically, that’s twice the number of stores that Chromebooks were sold in previously. This in-store rollout will take place over the next two weeks.

As far as the rest of Google’s line of laptops in partnership with Acer, HP and Samsung, there is indeed a niche that has gravitated towards the machine as a lower-cost alternative to the Macbook Air and Windows machines, specifically schools and small businesses.

Google recently launched its Chrome Pixel, which has come with mixed reviews. One thing that most technologists can agree with is that while this machine might not be the end-game for consumer computing, it includes quite a bit of technology that will eventually be priced for mass-markets. I’ve been using the machine for the past few days and the idea of touching your laptop screen is still something of a mind-melt. It’s going to take some time to consumerize this product.

It’s been an active past week in Google Chrome land, as it recently named its VP of Chrome, Sundar Pichai, as head of its Android unit, moving Andy Rubin on to bigger and brighter “moonshots.” Some think that this means the eventual merging of Chrome with the Android OS, which is something we’ve been waiting for.

Can Google get past the “cheap” label? It remains to be seen, but I can say from experience that the machine does exactly what you need it to do, and it does it well. During my trip to India, it’s the only laptop that I had with me, and it did the trick. The only downside to Chrome OS is the lack of popular applications available, such as Skype. That will come in time, and global expansion will help speed that up.

A World of Tweets

Twitter shortens the distance between people and provides access to different cultures and events around the world that may otherwise remain contained to a locality. In fact, as this post is being written, worldwide trending topics include Tweets about a Moscow soccer team, a Brazilian politician and a Dutch TV show character.

Our rapid worldwide growth means that there are amazing stories emerging everyday about Twitter use in very different places. While there are many similarities in usage, we’re watching closely how people in different countries get value out of Twitter in their own unique ways.

Here are some recent examples of Twitter’s impact around the world:

Brazil - This year, all three Presidential candidates were tweeting about their campaign in the first round of the election, and the community responded with their own voice throughout. Time also asked this week: “Why is Twitter so popular in Brazil” and provided insight into service’s impact on mainstream Brazilians.

Chile - Sign-ups after the earthquake spiked 500% and have continued to grow since. Last week, the we saw the world united in their support and relief to see the Chilean miner rescue. We even saw Tweets from the president himself.

China - The wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo, is under house arrest but has a Twitter account. Recent commentary from a Beijing media critic says that Twitter is promoting subtle social progress in China.

Ecuador - The president declared a state of emergency via Twitter during civil unrest after days of protests by the federal police. Leaders around the world responded openly with Tweets of support for solidarity and democracy.

Haiti - Twitter use played a critical role in crisis response after the earthquake this year, which also lead our mobile team to build a new feature called Fast Follow to allow people to follow sources via regular mobile phones without creating an account.

India - There are five times as many users in India as there were a year ago, a growth fueled by usage from high-profile users like Bollywood stars, politicians and cricket players.

Japan - Outside of the United States, more Tweets come from Japan than any other country. The high-level of mobile connectivity there plays a big role and, according the the Associated Press, Twitter “tapped into a greater sense of individuality in Japan.”

Nigeria - We are seeing increasing usage of Twitter across Africa, especially in larger populations such as Nigeria. In fact, news of a bomb explosion a few weeks ago broke on Twitter helping people avoid affected areas.

Russia - When President Medvedev started an account at Twitter HQ, we saw 300% growth in sign-ups the next day and have seen steady growth in activity and high-profile Russian use ever since.

South Korea - Twitter accounts have doubled since June when a "go and vote" campaign spread online and the office of the president began tweeting in hopes of creating better communication with voters.

Providing a truly global platform for people to exchange information and perspectives about their world requires Twitter to make the service easier and more locally relevant in all corners of the globe. This is why we and our teams of volunteer translators are continuously translating Twitter.com into Japanese, Spanish, German, French and Italian and plan to expand to other languages soon.