Netbook sales will reach 36 million globally during 2010, according to new figures from research firm Techaisle.
The company says the business netbook penetration rate will be at 5.3%, while consumer netbook penetration will be at 1.8%. It said in a statement there will be a “short and transient shift of netbook purchases among consumers from some mature markets into a few newly emerging markets”.
However, Techaisle chief executive Anurag Agrawal said in a statement market expansion will be limited by the “value proposition differential… there is no compelling reason for a consumer or a business to buy a netbook as compared to a notebook”.
While netbooks were popular in the past couple of years due to being a relatively new and exciting product, they are struggling to keep up with more powerful notebooks.
“The important thing was consumers were not buying them in numbers – because they decided if they spent another $200 they’d get a better notebook… we were getting feedback from the market that it’s not the beginning of an era, but the start of a short trend”.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
