Taipei, Oct. 27, 2008 (CENS)--The surging popularity of mini-note PCs, or netbooks, is expected to steadily fuel the notebook PC market through the rest of 2008 and well into 2009, despite the chilly global economy, according to the forecast by DisplaySearch, the world leader in flat panel display (FPD) market research and consulting.
According to DisplaySearch, notebook PCs and netbooks are expected to propel the portable computing device market to see 23% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth and 38% year-on-year (YoY) growth in the third quarter of this year. The fourth quarter is also expected to be strong, DisplaySearch said, with forecasted growth of 19% QoQ and 44% YoY. The combined market for these two product categories is expected to exceed 153 million units in 2008
Netbooks have been in the market for many years; however, many of these products were much more expensive than mainstream notebook PCs. Asus of Taiwan (Asustek Computer Inc.) helped open the door to the netbook market with its Eee PC in late 2007. This product and many other followers, are small, bare-bone devices with average selling prices (ASPs) that typically start at US$300. In 2007, the netbook market was less than 1 million units. By the end of 2008, DisplaySearch expected, this market would grow to more than 14 million units.
The market-research firm said that almost all of the tier-1 PC brands have entered, or plan to enter, the mini-note market, mainly as a response to the competitive threat posed by Asus, but also to satisfy demand from customers for products that are very light (less than 3 pounds), are priced under US$500, and also provide at least some typical office software functionality. DisplaySearch expects the mini-note market to win an about-16% share of the notebook PC market by 2011.
Worldwide Notebook PC Market-share Forecast |
Segment | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
Portable (13.3-16.4”) | 78.6% | 73.7% | 72.5% | 71.4% | 70.6% |
Mini-Note PC (5.0-10.2”) | 9.4% | 13.7% | 14.5% | 15.6% | 15.7% |
Desktop Replacement (17.0”+) | 7.2% | 8.7% | 9.6% | 10.0% | 11.0% |
UMPC (10.4-12.1”) | 4.8% | 3.9% | 3.5% | 3.0% | 2.6% |
Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Source: DisplaySearch, Oct. 2008 |
(by Quincy Liang)
