Google has sold millions of its popular Chromecast video streaming dongle in the U.S. and hopes to expand to other international markets soon.
Google's Chromecast streaming device received favorable reviews from its users and critics and its impressive sales results, announced recently, reflect its success. Sundar Pichai, Google's SVP of Android and Chrome, said at the SXSW (South by Southwest) conference in Austin, Texas, Sunday, that the Chromecast sales are ranging in millions in the U.S. where the device is currently available, reports GigaOm.
The exclusivity to U.S. is going to end soon as Pichai revealed that the Chromecast multimedia streaming dongle will soon be available in various other international markets. Pichai did not specify which markets the dongle will be available in, but it is likely that the United Kingdom will be a strong contender in this category. Possible expansion to some markets in Asia and Europe will only add to the growing success of Chromecast.
The company's announcement on the Chromecast sales is vague without any exact numbers, but it is the first public comment on Chromecast sales. The dongle consistently took the best-selling consumer electronic title on Amazon.com for months, challenging Amazon's popular Kindle. Some users even ordered the device from across the borders and despite the lack of some streaming services like Netflix in certain areas, Chromecast was well-accepted.
Google launched the HDMI Chromecast dongle at an event in San Francisco, last July. The video streaming dongle grabbed a lot of attention for its impressive features at a low price of $35. Users can stream videos directly from Netflix, Hulu, Google Play, among other popular services. It also supports mirroring of Chrome Browser and streams music as well. Access to different websites and services from a tablet and casting it on a TV was highlighted after Google imposed new guidelines to ban porn from its dongle, last month.
Google has time and again released updates to improve overall Chromecast experience. Most recently, Google unlocked its Chromecast SDK (software development kit), letting all app developers to push their apps or website content to the video streaming dongle. Last December, the web giant added support to stream content on Chromecast through Google Play music and movies directly from the web, eliminating the total dependency on a smartphone.
Since Google did not reveal the sales figures, comparison with competing rivals is difficult. According to GigaOm, Roku's earlier announcement revealed it had sold almost 8 million units in the U.S. till date. Apple also revealed that Apple TV generated as much as $1 billion in 2013 including media sales.
