Google's done a good job here, obviously. This seems like a remarkably solid piece of hardware, especially at <$300 from a software company. These things are selling. but..

..Right now, if you launch a revolutionizing gadget category its hard not to get compared and contrasted to Apple. There some hard to define (but I'll try) things that Apple is good at in a way that so few companies are.

Apple are so much better at "concepts." Take "apps" as an example. An App is a very clearly defined thing in iOS land. It comes from the app store. It lives on your homescreen. You load data into it via itunes (this part is kinda sucky). When you click it, it's open. When you close it it's closed. There are no shortcuts and no invisible system apps that don't have an icon. The icon is the app. You remove it and the app is gone. If you see two icons, you have two apps. Solid concept (metaphor, whatever). Apple are absolutely anal about this. They will forgo functionality in order to protect the concept. Android/Google, are willing to break the app concept in order to add functionality. That means your new music app can play your music and it can have a nifty widget. It also mean that your Aunt can no longer tell you what apps she has. Pros and Cons.

Chrome, is built from an assumption that a web browser in a box will be all you need by 2013. Turns out it's not. Some things are easier or nicer to do in an app. More importantly, allowing users to install apps doesn't necessarily mean toolbar-mallware-windows chaos on Aunt Jennie's computer. Now that iOS and Android solved that problem, not allowing apps seem silly and restrictive, even for Aunt Jennie. Problem. Luckily Google is not Apple and they can bend the chrome concept (it's a browser).

"You can finally run applications offline and outside of a browser window.. .. list of offline applications is woefully short at this point"

So anyway, apps. What is a Chrome OS app? Is it a website that uses some chrome OS extra goodies? Is it just a shortcut to a websapp?

I google Chrome OS app to see this woefully short list. I get here: https://www.google.ie/intl/en/chrome/webstore/apps-gtd.html.

"Chrome Apps For Your Desktop"

My OSX desktop?.. inside the chrome browser? is my Chromebook my desktop?

click around - LAUNCH YOUR APPS : "Chrome Apps have a new Home" - picture of a chromebook. Looks promising. Most of the other links seem to be for Chrome-the-browser though. A few for chrome-the-thing-that-plugs-into-your-TV-I-think.

"You will need Google Chrome to install most apps"

WTF is "Chrome" anyway? Here's a confusing concept. It feels more like a department than a product line. How is a Chromecast app related to a Chromebook app or a Chrome OS app? What does it have to do with the play store? How do I find out if there is a Chrome OS viber app? What do I google?

Another place where Apple is clean is use cases. If you look at magazine-brochures for computer stores the Dells, Acers & Lentos are inconveniently categorized into "recommended for" groups or somesuch. Recommended for email, students, games. The computers don't cooperate and I can imagine the conversation before printing these things. "Just Say it's like the Acer aspire V3-551 but AMD." Apple's line up categorizes itself.

A chromebook is a good 'secondary' machine. It's also *almost" everything Aunt Genie needs (she needs Skype and the kobo bookstore) which is great. She can get an Acer for Skype and the kobo bookstore. It isn't a hub. So if you want to download stuff from my camera and put it on your iphone, it's a tricky situation.

I suspect that if Apple are considering entering into this market with an iOS powered netbook or similar, they are wrestling with the question of where this fits. Is it a hub that can replace OSX for some people or is it a secondary device that expects you to have a hub someplace else. iOS devices are getting more independent of their hubs, so maybe time will moot that problem.

I don't mean to single out Google. They built a great product. They are looking to solve the problems of the 50% of home users who can't handle windows and hate computers and will always buy the cheapest option. Apps came out of nowhere. Most companies are just as bad at this stuff.

Marketing requires a surprising level of discipline.