Netbooks Sales Still Climbing - www.wi-fiplanet.com

Netbooks Sales Still Climbing - www.wi-fiplanet.com: "Netbooks Sales Still Climbing | By Andy Patrizio | September 3, 2009

Netbooks are beginning to really eat away at the notebook market and are showing their greatest strength outside the U.S., according to a new report by market researcher DisplaySearch, a subsidiary of NPD Group.

In its new Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report, DisplaySearch found netbook sales had surged to 38 million units during second quarter, with 40 percent quarterly sequential growth--better than the 22 percent sequential growth for notebooks.

Of course, notebooks are a mature market while netbooks are still finding their footing. Plus, netbooks have been positioned as a second or third computer, ideal for someone who already owns a laptop, but wants something smaller and lighter to more easily carry with them.

Netbooks' share of the market has soared from 5.6 percent in the second quarter of 2008 to 22.2 percent last quarter. There has also been a corresponding loss for notebooks, from 94.4 percent of the market in 2008 to 77.8 percent in 2009.

Small world

Equally notable is where netbooks are growing. When the product category first emerged on the market, experts widely assumed they would take root in emerging and poorer countries. Instead, the opposite happened: They initially took off in the U.S. and Europe."


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