Stan Beer
Wednesday, 17 December 2008 16:03
IT Industry -
Market
Page 3 of 4
Toshiba, which released its NB100 in September, has seen
sales of the company's debut netbook soar, despite some relatively
lukewarm reviews for the new product.
"From a units perspective, it's already
accounting for about 5% of our business," Matt Tumminello, Toshiba's
notebooks product marketing manager Australia and New Zealand told
iTWire.
Tumminello says that early indications are that Toshiba netbook sales
are tracking the Windows market for desktop and notebook computers at
about 92% of the market.
"We've launched our netbook locally with Windows (only) but I know that
our European counterparts have launched it with both Linux and Windows.
And I also know that in Europe from what we've been shipping from the
factory that something similar to that 92% Windows mark would be true.
"We're still obviously watching what happens with the sell-through and
what becomes popular but I expect it to take the same Windows path
because of the familiarity point of view."
Like Acer's Lee, Tumminello sees netbooks developing as a brand new market space, quite distinct from notebooks.
"The target market is that very first time user or perhaps a second computer for more experienced users," said Tumminello.
"There's obviously some limitations around the product. A good
description I heard the other day is that a netbook is an information
gatherer and viewer but not an information creator."
A similar story is reverberating out of Dell, which like Toshiba, launched its netbook - the Inspiron Mini 9 - in September.
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