Tablets Hold 75% of Ultramobile PC Market

Turning to ultrabooks and leaving netbooks behind is really starting to look like the only real option that notebook makers have if the figures published by ABI Research are accurate.

Ever since tablets started to sell by the thousands, the effect on the netbook segment has been quite closely monitored.

After all, anything that could so cleanly stomp the wonder child of the mobile PC industry in terms of sales was a red light of warning.

Apparently, and quite expectedly, this year saw netbooks decrease in marketing relevance even further.

More specifically, this kind of low-end personal computers were completely overshadowed by the 75% ultramobile laptop market share that tablets secured.

Granted, the study did mention that the slates were in a more or less fragile place and that there was every chance they won't manage to hold on to this share for long.

The fact that the majority of all tablets are Apple iPads, which have an entire app ecosystem to keep their owners occupied, obviously had something to do with all this.

“While the near-term opportunity is all about media tablets, no UMD segment type has ever sustained a lead for longer than 36 months in any part of the world,” says ABI Research group director Jeff Orr.

ABI research also pointed out that netbooks will continue to sell in developing countries, where it isn't very easy to acquire home-based Internet access.

Nevertheless, the freshness of the new form factor can only keep consumer interest for so long before consumer and business needs kick in again.

“For UMDs in the US to take the PC or smartphone markets head-on, there needs to be a fundamental shift in buying behavior driven by lifestyle enhancements and workplace requirements,” says Orr.

All in all, everything seems to be in line with other predictions that say tablets and smartphones have and will keep having a “dramatic impact” on the IT segment.