Laptops sell better than desktops, but netbooks start to be an interesting option for many
A recent research confirmed that in Q3 2008 there were more laptops shipped worldwide than desktops. Everybody expected this trend, as more and more people are inclined to portability than sheer computing power and, nevertheless, prices of laptops aren’t that high anymore.
iSuppli reported that laptop shipments rose by about 40 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period of 2007, reaching 38.6 million units sold around the world. On the other hand, desktop computers registered a 1.8 percent decrease in the last year, with 38.5 million units sold. This may not sound much of a difference, but it is clear that laptops are the way to go for most people.
Analyst Matthew Wilkins of iSuppli stated that the “age of the notebook” officially began, as this is the first time that global sales figures show that there are more laptops sold than desktops do. He added that laptop computers have become the necessary and ordinary computer, rather than the high-end business tool that was considered to be just a few years ago.
Even though the economic recession has already affected several areas of the industry around the world, it looks like computer businesses are still going well, as iSuppli reported a 15 percent increase this year.
The report also showed that there were no changes in the top five of computer manufacturers as HP also holds the lead with 18.8 percent share, followed by Dell with 13.9 percent, Acer with 12.2 percent, Lenovo with 7.5 percent and Toshiba, which had 4.6 percent market share. However, Acer had the highest increase this year, as the company’s sales went up by 76 percent than last year. Acer sold 3 million more laptops in 2008 but it is interesting that most of them were netbooks.
It seems that notebooks are part of the big companies’ answer to the economic recession. Many users started to think about buying this kind of small ultraportable computers with 7 to 10 inch screens and which cost around $400. Moreover, while they do not raise any pretentions in terms of power, netbooks cope well with basic tasks as checking email and surfing the web, which make the most part of a user’s usual activity on a computer. For this reason, a netbook seems to be the device that manages to meet the demands of most users, and does it without being expensive at all.
Another big player, ASUSTeK, managed to outperform Lenovo in terms of laptops sold, even though Lenovo scored higher in overall sales. On the other hand, Apple didn’t shine, as its sales went down by about 0.5 points to 3.2 percent share.
However, research company IDC expects that the economic recession will affect PC industry next year. The firm’s previsions show a 3.8 percent decline in shipments and a 5.3 percent decrease in global revenue.
