Keep Your Eyes Peeled: A Chrome OS Notebook May Be in Your Future

A little more than a week ago, Jeff wrote about a website that was tracking all of Google’s Chrome OS notebook shipments in order to determine what regions the were being sent to and who was likely to get a hold of the device first.  Being as eager as I was to get my hands on the device, I was reloading the page on an hourly basis to see of Google had sent one of the devices my way and if I maybe – just maybe – was one of the lucky first users for the device.  However, the site that Jeff wrote about has yet to add any new tracking numbers to its list for about five days now because Google caught onto what was going on and began to randomize the tracking numbers.  While the 13,869 notebooks that have already been shipped out are still viewable, there have yet to be any new shipments added to the tracker.  But a recent development may mean that we will see a new batch of shipments going out – one of which might just make its way to your doorstep.

You see, yesterday marked the 21st of the month; the day in which Google officially closed their acceptance of new applicants for the pilot program.  What does this mean?  Simply put, this means that Google now has all of the potential participants organized and can now make the final decisions as to who will be lucky enough to partake in what may very well be a cloud-computing revolution.  With a better idea of their options, Google is now going to be able to make decisions as to who will be best suited to demo the Chrome OS units and who they will likely receive the most structured and helpful feedback from.

Now, you may be wondering about the devices that Google already sent out.  While the nearly 14,000 devices are definitely of importance, one has to consider that in total Google has only shipped out less than one-quarter of the Chrome OS notebooks as of yet, according to the third-party tracking website.  I personally believe that these devices went out to Google’s hotter prospects: individuals that Google saw as the priority in getting their devices tested and ready for market.

While we are still left in the dark in regards to all of the current shipments, I am sure that Google has been holding on to a number of the notebooks so that they wouldn’t send all of them out before the registration deadline.  Having said all of this, it wouldn’t surprise me if Google started shipping out some – if not all – of the remaining Chrome OS notebook in the next few days after having had a chance to evaluate all of the potential candidates for testing.

In the meantime, I will have to keep an eye on my doorstep – not the tracking website – to see if I have been selected as a pre-launch user.

Are you waiting for a Chrome OS notebook?  Do you think you were selected?  Let us know in the comments!