CNBC misread an infographic on Chromebooks, everyone copied it

5 points

10 years ago

So, I looked a little more suspiciously at CNBC's claim that "over half" of devices in US classrooms were Chromebooks: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/03/googles-chromebooks-make-up-half-of-us-classroom-devices.html

Major tech blogs all over picked it up, both general technology and Google-specific alike. The problem: The article's wrong.

The article cites an infographic, below, which merely states that over 50% of SALES in Q3 of 2015 were Chromebooks. And when you scroll down to the fine print, you discover an ever larger issue: It only counts laptops.

Somehow, CNBC turned an article about laptop sales in one quarter of 2015 into a claim that half of all devices in US classrooms ran Chrome OS.

I've send notices to correct to a bunch of blogs, and of course, reported it to CNBC itself, but it's concerning to see how far through our "journalism" these days misinformation will transfer, before someone notices it.

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