Netbooks will gradually fade out of public view

When PC manufacturers compete to imitate the success of the Apple iPad, it is not hard to find that everyone is no longer talking about netbooks.

According to market research firm Gartner, from October to December last year, PC vendors sold 10.5 million mini-notebooks. This figure may reach the peak of the market. In the first quarter of this year, shipments of netbooks were 9.7 million units, and shipments in the second quarter were 8.4 million units. This number is expected to continue to decline in the coming months.

Before the official release of the iPad, the PC community began talking about tablets in January this year. Hewlett-Packard, Dell and French Archos all displayed touch-screen tablets at this year's CES show, but did not disclose more details and shipping dates are also vague. Obviously, manufacturers' attention on the netbook target market has shifted.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison once said that the tech industry’s pursuit of fashion is largely similar to that of the fashion industry. Not long ago, the Internet was also touted as the future of the mobile computing world. Its size was larger than that of smartphones and its price was lower than that of full-size notebooks. The netbook is a miniature version of the notebook. Its display size is between 5-10 inches. It runs Windows XP or Windows 7, and even runs Linux. It has a low-power processor and a longer battery life. It sells for between $300 and $600.

At the end of 2007, Asustek teamed up with PC to lead the netbook boom. Prior to the drop in netbook shipments earlier this year, the hype around mini-notebooks has weakened. The netbook was still a star at CES 2009, but no one mentioned it at the Las Vegas Tech Festival in January this year.

Market researchers released data earlier this year to interpret why the Internet lags behind traditional PCs and touch-screen tablets. Market research firm Forrester Research released the 2015 US consumer PC market report, pointing out that notebooks will continue to dominate the US PC market in the next four years, with a share of 42%, followed by tablet PCs, with a share of 23%; a desktop share of 18%; netbook share 17%.

Netbooks will not disappear overnight, and users who want to purchase cheap, small-sized notebooks can run office software. Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and LG have recently announced new dual-core netbooks. Netbooks also have a trend toward high-end development. Display screens are larger in size, higher in price, and more powerful. They have gradually become the standard notebook lineup.

Tablet PCs have become a product that attracts attention among smartphones and laptops. Tablet PCs will become products that erode the market share of low-end notebooks after the Internet. The fact that the iPad has been on the Apple Store for less than six months has delayed purchases of netbooks by PC buyers or hesitate to purchase netbooks.

UBS analyst Maynard Um wrote in a customer research report Wednesday that pressure from the iPad forced vendors to compete for iPad-like products. Um writes: "We believe that the iPad will mainly affect low-end PC sales, because iPad pricing is similar to low-end PCs, and it is more attractive to users who want to purchase such products. But it cannot be simply said that the iPad will erode PCs. Sales, because the iPad is not yet fully comparable to the laptop. Users who purchase the iPad may launch a purchase or replace an existing PC."