Love them or hate them Netbook sales are skyrocketing with the number of units sold predicted to double this year to around 32.7 million compared to 16 million in 2008 says a DisplaySearch report.
There are still more Laptops sold than Netbooks though and this year around 130 million of them are expected to be sold, however those figures are just too similar to last year which means that laptop sales are pretty flat whilst Netbook sales just keep on rising.
So why is there such a demand for Netbooks all of a sudden?
First of all it isn’t sudden; Netbook sales have continually risen since the first one appeared in 2007 and there are several reasons for their popularity.
“It is clear that buyers want a lightweight device but that they also want a bigger display,” said John F. Jacobs, author of the DisplaySearch report.
Yes no longer do Netbooks have to have tiny screens and keyboards, they can look almost like entry level laptops these days, except lighter and cheaper.
“While (Netbooks) have certainly created a new market, our research indicates that they are predominantly used as secondary PCs by consumers and are not replacing notebooks” says Jacobs.
Yes even those who do have a desktop or a laptop, many choose to have a Netbook as a second or even third device for the very purpose of staying connected whilst on the move.
We also have to consider price. Netbooks tend to be hundreds of dollars cheaper than laptops so are an affordable option for those who might not otherwise have a device at all.
This coupled with the fact that many communications providers subsidize the cost of the Netbooks for their customers makes Netbooks available to just about anyone.
Netbooks are also suitable for just about everyone whether they be business men and women, students, housewives, grandparents, children, or anyone else for that matter.
They are extremely portable and provide quick and convenient access to the Net when travelling about, certainly a lot easier to lug around than a heavy duty laptop.
All in all Netbooks are a brilliant tool that and more than capable of fulfilling the needs of people who are not attached to a desk all day.
Part of their appeal has also got to be that they are just not considered as valuable as laptops so people are not afraid to carry them around.
Or, to put it in the words of the early geeks, Netbooks are “good enough to use and cheap enough to lose”.
And that just about sums it up really.
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