Netbooks rather than notebooks were the flavor of 2009, with sales soaring during the year.
That’s according to a report from DisplaySearch, which suggested that while netbook shipments grew by 103 percent year on year, regular notebooks and ultra portable sales declined.
Revenues in all other sectors fell during the year but DisplaySearch believes that will change during 2010. Even that will not necessarily help because an increase in unit growth won’t offset a 20 percent decline in average selling prices (ASPs).
Next year, DisplaySearch thinks the notebook PC market will grow by as much as 16 percent, with higher than average growth in the ultraportable category. Growth will be boosted by 11.6-inch and 12-inch products ultrathin machines – that will be good news for AMD, it has placed many of its notebook bets on this category.
DisplaySearch thinks, however, that the netbook part of the market has stabilized and increased performance of fully fledged notebooks will make them more attractive.
John F. Jacobs, director of DisplaySearch notebook division, said: “For 2010 we expect further erosion of ASPs across almost every portable computer segment. However, unit growth should be sufficient to offset ASP decline, leading to flat year on year revenue for the portable PC market.”
The table below represents notebook and mini-note (netbooks) revenue expressed in billions of US dollars.
| Category | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 09 YoY growth |
10 YoY growth |
| Netbook | $6.65 | $11.40 | $11.40 | 72% | -0.1% |
| Ultraportable | $8.93 | $6.92 | $6.51 | -23% | -6% |
| Portable | $91.91 | $80.29 | $77.05 | -13% | -4% |
| Desktop Replacement |
$9.60 | $10.78 | $13.02 | -12% | 21% |
| All Portable PC |
$117.09 | $109.40 | $108.0 | -12% | -1% |
| Notebook PC |
$110.4 | $98.0 | $96.6 | -11% | -1% |
