Joe Public

Netbook Sales: Cannibalizing Notebooks or Incremental?

Anectodal: Our story is that I bought a netbook for my wife for Christmas. It was an incremental purchase, and I was attracted by the $300 price point. I would NOT have bought a notebook PC. She wanted something small and convenient for web surfing - something smaller than a notebook. I think the notebook is partly a new product category and partly cannibalizes notebooks. Good for Microsoft perhaps, but maybe a wash for chip makers and PC makers.

PC Demand: No Recovery in Sight, Netbooks a Bright Spot

And with Windows 7 coming out at the end of this year, some consumers will delay making PC purchases until then, to avoid having to buy and use Vista. I 'm one of those.

Did Intel Misjudge Success of the Netbook?

I agree that not every netbook purchased is a notebook not purchased. Far from it. We bought a netbook for Christmas. At this time, we would not have bought a notebook or other PC if netbooks didn't exist. There would have been some other present under the Christmas tree. The netbook fills a somewhat different need than a larger notebook. We already have a 2 notebooks and 2 desktops in the family. We didn't need another notebook. I'm sure many other consumers view the netbook the same way.