14 DAY TRIAL // While some companies continue to look upon tablets with some skepticism, others seem to think they will have a massive effect this very year, to the point where they might take over much more than half of the netbook market.
Back at the start of 2010, netbook makers were quite sure that these low-cost, entry-level mobile PCs were going to continue increasing in sales.
Then, when tablets came out and proved themselves such a quick success, said players had to revise their plans.
Some were reluctant and reserved, at least at first, but they eventually had to give in and start working on their own tablets, even reinventing their business strategy altogether in some cases.
Either way, slates have been selling even in spite of low availability (as far as non-iPad models go anyway), all to the expense of netbooks.
It is now reported that, in ViewSonic's opinion, netbook inventories will continue to increase as consumers buy them less and less.
About 100 million handheld devices (smartphones and tablets mostly) will sell this year, much more than the 39 million of 2010.
Basically, tablets might just replace about 70% of all netbook sales, a fairly ambitious percentage, although not really outside the realm of possibility.
After all, IT players used to be certain slates would never become more than a niche market, only to find themselves hard-pressed when they boomed.
In fact, ViewSoni's president, Alan Chang, is said to have stated that it is netbooks that might, sooner or later, be forced into becoming a niche market in and of themselves.
Of course, like all rumors, this prediction may or may not eventually turn out to be true.
Either way, it will fall to market analysts, at the end of the year, to make a sales tally and figure out whether tablets really were as damaging towards netbook shipments as this report expects.