Report: Netbooks fuel heady notebook growth in 2010

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sales of notebook PCs should rise a whopping 25.5 percent this year to 209.5 million units driven by growth in netbooks and a new class of low power notebooks created by Intel Corp., according to a new report from market watcher iSuppli Corp.

Overall, sales this year will outpace the 19 percent growth in 2008 and growth rates expected through 2014. “Despite the worldwide recession last year, consumers were enthusiastic about notebook PCs, a trend that will persist in 2010 especially for the market’s two fastest-growing segments," said Peter Lin, senior computer analyst at iSuppli.

The two fast-rising segments are netbooks which are expected to grow 30 percent this year to 34.5 million units and a new concept dubbed Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage notebooks driven by Intel. The CULV designs should grow 93 percent to 14.5 million units in 2010.

ISuppli defines netbooks as portables costing less than $500 with display smaller than 10.2 inches. The CULV notebooks, defined by Intel a year ago as a tier above netbooks, cost up to $800 and have larger displays.

Mainstream notebooks still comprise the brunt of the market at 160.5 million units, and they are still expanding at a 21 percent growth rate this year, iSuppli predicted. The segment will continue to be the largest slice of the portable PC pie through 2014, the market watcher said.

Acer Inc. was the largest supplier of both netbooks and the new CULV systems last year, according to iSuppli. Acer has a 37 percent stake of the netbook market, shipping 9.8 million systems.

By contrast, AsusTek Computer Inc. which launched the netbook craze with its eePC design saw its market share slide from 37 to 21 percent last year, shipping 5.5 million netbooks. Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and Dell took third, fourth and fifth place in netbooks respectively.

The netbook market will grow to 58.3 million units/year by 2004, iSuppli projected.