Netbooks account for 30% of consumer laptop sales

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 17 Feb 2009 at 11:13

The netbook boom is continuing apace, with the mini-laptops now accounting for three out of ten consumer laptop sales in Europe.

Market-watcher IDC says 3.6 million netbooks were sold in Europe in the last quarter of 2008, as back-to-school demand and Christmas propelled sales of the devices to new heights.

Netbooks are particularly popular here in the UK, with IDC claiming Western Europe accounted for more than 80% of overall European sales.

IDC claims there are now more than 50 vendors offering netbooks in the region, with Apple and Sony being the only notable refuseniks.

Acer and Asus retain their positions as the leading netbook vendors, with a market share of 30.3% and 28% respectively. The rest are a long way behind, with HP, Dell and Samsung all failing to command any more than 7% of the netbook market.

IDC says there's no sign of the netbook surge coming to an end, with the devices becoming more attractive to businesses. "Market dynamics will remain driven by consumer demand, but improving specifications, larger screens, and integrated 3G will make mini-notebooks more appealing to businesses as well," IDC reports.

The research firm also predicts that the market will continue to gravitate towards the more expensive, larger-screen models. "The shift towards 10in [screens] will continue and is expected to dominate the market in 2009, and we will see the first convertible models with touchscreens appear later this year," it says.

Asus has already stated that it will have a touchscreen Eee PC running on Windows 7 by this summer.

Top five netbook vendors Q4 2008

1. Acer 30.3%
2. Asus 28.0%
3. HP 7.0%
4. Samsung 6.4%
5. Dell 4.3%