Here’s an Idea to Boost Notebook Sales: Call Them Netbooks…
by John Paczkowski
Posted on July 13, 2009 at 12:30 PM PT
Consumers may have trouble distinguishing netbooks from notebooks, but that’s clearly not preventing people from buying them. DisplaySearch, an NPD Group subsidiary, estimates that netbooks will claim a 20 percent share of the world-wide market in 2009. The research outfit predicts that consumers will purchase almost 33 million netbooks this year, nearly double the number they bought last year.
Meanwhile, the market for traditional notebooks, which DisplaySearch defines as laptops with displays 12.1-inches and larger, will be flat year over year for the first time. And that’s interesting because one of the factors driving netbook sales, along with their lower price point, is screen size. Increasingly, consumers are looking for near-notebook-size screens in their netbooks.
“Mini-notes are forecast to continue to be a significant portion of the market. However, as display sizes of these devices have quickly moved from 7.0” to 8.9” to 10.1”, and now with the emergence of 11.6” and 12.0” mini-note products, it is clear that buyers want a light-weight device, but that they also want a bigger display,” said John Jacobs, director of notebook market research at DisplaySearch. “While these devices have certainly created a new market, our research indicates that they are predominantly used as secondary PCs by consumers, and are not replacing notebooks.”
Comments
“they are predominantly used as secondary PCs by consumers”.
Oh, like the AirBook only a lots less money.
Posted by Dave Barnes at July 13th, 2009 at 12:43 pmNo surprise to see these new devices gaining speed. With the popularity of ‘phone computing’ I’m sure we’ll continue to see the traditional laptops and phones overlapping.
Posted by Karen Smithson at July 14th, 2009 at 3:28 pmKaren