Netbook Shipments To Exceed 26 Million

More netbook PCs than expected will ship in 2009.

In a revised forecast, research firm IDC upped its forecast for global netbook shipments this year by 20 percent, Reuters reported, citing strong demand in some regions. Further fueling the growth is telecom operators subsidizing the low-cost computers.

IDC now expects a total of 26.4 million netbooks to ship this year. The uptick is largely due to stronger demand from Latin America, Asia and the U.S. Previously, IDC predicted 22 million shipments for 2009.

If IDC's prediction is right, that would represent growth of 127 percent over 2008.

"We're seeing demand stronger than expectations in many areas, and now with telcos beginning to subsidize models in the United States as well, that's all pushing up demand," Bob O'Donnell, an IDC analyst told Reuters at PC trade show Computex. "While we're still doubtful about how much operator subsidies will help in the United States, that's still a factor that could push up demand that we're looking at."

Netbooks have gripped the market over the past several months. The scaled down notebook-style PCs are designed to be low-cost and offer basic functions like Internet browsing and other applications for under $500.

And the market is catching on. So far, netbooks are available from Asus, Dell, HP and a host of other computer makers. It has also been widely rumored that Apple would launch its own netbook, but the company has denied that speculation.

Acer this week added a new page to the netbook story, revealing that it plans to ship netbooks running the open source Google Android operating system in the third quarter.

O'Donnell, however, said he was doubtful that Acer's Android netbook would make a dent in Microsoft's stranglehold on the operating system market.

"Android doesn't stand a chance," he told Reuters. "The fact is, people are using mini notebooks for the exact same thing they're using their notebooks for. They still want their software and applications to work."