Netbooks were created to fill the gap between laptops
and smartphones, and they sold like hotcakes for a while. Now, a study has
found that the category is in freefall.
IHS iSuppli predicted just 264,000 netbooks will be shipped in 2014 and none will go out in
2015.
“Netbooks shot to popularity immediately after launch
because they were optimized for low cost, delivering what many consumers
believed as acceptable computer performance,” wrote Craig Stice, senior
principal analyst for computer platforms at IHS, in the report. “However,
netbooks began their descent to oblivion with the introduction in 2010 of
Apple’s iPad.”
The IHS study reported that netbook shipments were
32.14 million when the iPad hit the market, but just 14.13 million last year.
This year, IHS predicts only 3.97 million will be shipped, a drop of 72% in
just 12 months.
“The problem is netbooks aren’t better at anything,”
the late Steve Jobs was quoted as saying once.
“They are slow, they have low-quality displays, and they run clunky, old PC
software. We don’t think they’re a third-category device.”
