Official sleeve for Google’s Chromebook Pixel is coming soon to the Play Store
I don’t think I’ve met anyone who has been overly disappointed by the Chromebook Pixel’s hardware. I have, however, met many people who are disappointed by Google’s less-than-stellar support for official accessories. For example, the Pixel officially went on sale on February 21, and Google didn’t start selling extra power adapters until the middle of May.
Many people have also expressed disappointment at the fact that there isn’t an official case or sleeve for the expensive laptop, which starts at $1299. Indeed, that’s an awful lot of money to spend on a computer, only to find out that there’s no good way to protect that investment. Granted, many have discovered that various sleeves designed for the 13-inch Macbook Pro fit great, and I’m even using the ZeroShock III laptop case myself. Still, it would be nice to see Google pay a little more attention to this underserved market of eagerly awaiting Pixel owners.
And, as it turns out, that wait might not be in vain. According to a recent Google+ post by Artem Russakovskii, the founder of Android Police, Google is preparing to release an official sleeve very soon:
Just FYI, a birdie tells me there’s an official Chromebook Pixel sleeve coming to the Play Store. Not sure when but it should be soon, if all goes well.
Normally, I wouldn’t pay much attention to random posts like these on social networks, but Russakovskii is a very well-respected reporter of all things Android and Google. He’s got good connections, and has been very reliable about these types of things in the past. He also guards his own online reputation very carefully, so I have confidence that he would not post something like this if he didn’t have a very good reason to believe it. After all, the Pixel itself started out as a wild online rumor that was confirmed mere days after it started; I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar happen here.
So there you go – we don’t know anything about pricing, or even what the darn thing will look like. We have no release date, other than “soon.” But it looks like it’s coming. I interpret this as another sign that Google takes the Pixel seriously, along with Chrome OS. Now, if only Google could become a bit better about offering more accessories closer to the release dates for its various products, then all will be right in my world.
