14 DAY TRIAL // A recent report released by ABI Research appears to confirm what has been said repeatedly about the fast-growing market for low-cost, low-power portable computer systems, namely that the netbook is the product that best fits the current market situation. Taking in consideration the impressive number of netbook units sold during this past months, the research firm has made a forecast for the future of netbook shipments. According to the company, the estimated number of worldwide shipments of netbooks will reach 35 million this year, while by 2013 that number is expected to rise to as much as 139 million.
“PDAs began our reliance on instant accessible data while traveling. When PDA functionality converged with cellular voice, smartphones became the new darling of mobile professional technology that many expected to evolve into the hub for all data and communication needs for travelling professionals. Today, with a better understanding for what a smartphone is, is not, and may never be, along with a reality check on the usefulness of UMPCs, the market remains open for new device types,” said practice director Kevin Burden, explaining the evolution.
According to Burden, netbooks have reached the current level of success due to the evolution of the consumer and industry expectations, in addition to the technological development of the low-power x86 and ARM processors, which have ultimately enabled the creation of the new PC category. “In recent years, the industry still expected the smartphones to be more than they turned out to be, and most recently, MIDs were thought to be the next big mobile devices segment, but an unclear usage model continues to confuse the market. So today, netbooks’ time has come, and ABI research expects them to enjoy very strong market growth,” he says.
The report basically provides a perspective on the future of both the PC market as well as the CPU market, which will likely continue to benefit the Santa Clara, California-based Intel, responsible for the Atom processors featured in almost every netbook currently available on the market. The chipmaker is expected to further expand its lineup of low-power computer systems, with the addition of new, low-power processors, which will be integrated in some of the upcoming netbook systems.