Netbooks growing twice as fast as notebooks

Jake Widman
Tuesday, 01 September 2009 03:50

IT Industry - Market

According to a new report, the market for netbook computers grew 40 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2009, almost twice the rate of standard notebooks. Netbook shipments actually outstripped notebooks in Latin America and Greater China.

The numbers are from the DisplaySearch Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

While growth in both netbook (called by DisplaySearch "mini-note PCs") and full-size notebooks was strong, the surge in netbook popularity has given the segment more than 22% of total shipments in the second quarter,up from 5.6% in the same quarter last year.

Particularly impressive was the performance of netbooks in Greater China and Latin America.

The former acocunts for 18.6% of the global mini-note market, compared to 13.8% for the regular notebook market, for a year-over-year growth of 59.7%.

In Latin America, the numbers were 6.7% for mini-notes and 4.8 percent for notebooks and 64.8% Y/Y growth.

In the rest of the world the disparity was in favor of notebooks and less dramatic overall, ranging from a 30.2-26.6% lead for notebooks in North America to a mere 6.1-6.0% advantage in China.

The report credits the subsidization of netbooks by telecom providers for some of their improved market performance. The full report can be ordered here.