iPad and tablet rivals will kill netbooks, says experts [View All]

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Computerworld - Apple's iPad may soon put a stake in the heart of netbooks, research analysts said this week. The momentum is rapidly shifting from netbooks to tablets, said experts at Forrester Research and DisplaySearch in notes issued today and last Tuesday, respectively. And Apple's iPad is leading the charge.

Although only about 3.5 million tablets will be sold this year, by 2012 the form factor will outsell netbooks, according to Forrester's projections. By 2015, more consumers will be using slates like Apple's iPads than use the diminutive, traditional clamshell-style netbook PCs.

"Tablet growth will come at the expense of netbooks, which have a similar grab-and-go media consumption and Web browsing use case as tablets but don't synchronize data across services like the iPad does," said Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester analyst, in a statement Thursday. "Consumers didn't ask for tablets..., but Apple is successfully teaching consumers to want this new device."

Within five years, tablets will account for 23% of all PC sales -- Forrester classifies devices like the iPad as personal computers, even though Apple CEO Steve Jobs does not -- Epps added. DisplaySearch's shorter-term estimates on the iPad-versus-netbook battle were even more aggressive. According to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based firm, Apple's iPad accounted for about 6.5% of the netbook-tablet combined sales of 10.3 million units in the first quarter of this year.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178198/iPad_and_tablet_rivals_will_kill_netbooks_says_experts