NetBook Penetration Nears 20% in Q1 '09, Dominated by Acer
Preliminary data from DisplaySearch reveals that shipments of almost 6 million mini-note PCs (netbooks) raised their penetration in the notebook PC market close to 20% worldwide in Q1 '09.
Acer was the leader in the mini-note category with a market share of 30.5%, shipping twice as many mini-notes as Asus, their nearest rival. HP continued their dominance of the notebook PC category, growing share to 24.1%, with more than 7.3 million shipped.
Penetration rates for mini-notes were the highest in EMEA and Latin America, and the lowest in China, Japan and North America. Approximately 45% of all mini-notes shipped in the quarter went into EMEA, compared to less than 26% in North America. By contrast, EMEA accounted for 38% of the total notebook market, while North America was less than 30%. The differences in share between EMEA and North America may be a result of telecom subsidy plans in Europe. Telecom providers in Europe began experimenting with free or heavily discounted mini-notes with the purchase of two-year data plans in early 2008, but the first US-based telecom providers tried such subsidies in December 2008, and they have only very recently begun to expand these promotional programs.
For the notebook PC industry as a whole, #2 Acer passed #3 Dell, capturing 18.8% of the market. However, of the top five notebook PC brands, Acer had the greatest percentage of their total shipments accounted for by mini-notes by far(31.6%), compared to HP, Dell, Toshiba and Lenovo, all of whom shipped less than 10% of their volume as mini-notes.
"It is clear at the moment that mini-notes play a vital role in the total PC market. Without the additional volume provided by these products, shipment volumes for the notebook PC market would have been down 19% Y/Y, instead of only falling 3%. While there is no doubt that many buyers of mini-notes would have chosen larger notebook PCs if mini-notes were not available, it is also certain that many buyers might have chosen not to purchase a notebook PC at all," said John F. Jacobs, Director of Notebook Market Research and author of the report.
For information on this DisplaySearch report, visit http://www.displaysearch.com.
Penetration rates for mini-notes were the highest in EMEA and Latin America, and the lowest in China, Japan and North America. Approximately 45% of all mini-notes shipped in the quarter went into EMEA, compared to less than 26% in North America. By contrast, EMEA accounted for 38% of the total notebook market, while North America was less than 30%. The differences in share between EMEA and North America may be a result of telecom subsidy plans in Europe. Telecom providers in Europe began experimenting with free or heavily discounted mini-notes with the purchase of two-year data plans in early 2008, but the first US-based telecom providers tried such subsidies in December 2008, and they have only very recently begun to expand these promotional programs.
For the notebook PC industry as a whole, #2 Acer passed #3 Dell, capturing 18.8% of the market. However, of the top five notebook PC brands, Acer had the greatest percentage of their total shipments accounted for by mini-notes by far(31.6%), compared to HP, Dell, Toshiba and Lenovo, all of whom shipped less than 10% of their volume as mini-notes.
"It is clear at the moment that mini-notes play a vital role in the total PC market. Without the additional volume provided by these products, shipment volumes for the notebook PC market would have been down 19% Y/Y, instead of only falling 3%. While there is no doubt that many buyers of mini-notes would have chosen larger notebook PCs if mini-notes were not available, it is also certain that many buyers might have chosen not to purchase a notebook PC at all," said John F. Jacobs, Director of Notebook Market Research and author of the report.
For information on this DisplaySearch report, visit http://www.displaysearch.com.
