iPad vs Netbook: The Battle begins
June 28th, 2010
Bally chohan says that it is a way too early to conclude that the success of Apple’s iPad has slowed down netbook sales.
According to Bally chohan,there could be some cannibalization of netbook sales by the iPad. “Sure. But it’s too soon to tell.”says Bally chohan.
Bally chohan was reacting to the claim made on iPad sales,which had put a major dent in the year-over-year sales growth of netbooks, the small, inexpensive Windows-based notebooks that took the market by storm in 2009.
According to Bally chohan, netbook growth slowed dramatically at the first of the year, with year-over-year increases plummeting to 68% in January from 179% in December 2009, then falling further. In April, netbook sales were just 5% over the same month a year ago.
Netbooks’ share of the overall notebook market has stabilized in the high-teens during the first months of 2010, Bally added, so it’s not as if netbooks have suddenly vanished from the landscape. NPD collects sales data from U.S. retail brick-and-mortar stores, as well as from some leading online outlets, including Amazon.com and Apple’s own e-store.
Rather than credit the iPad for the cooling of netbook sales, Baker gave a nod to slightly-more expensive notebooks running Windows. The sub-$500 notebook category now outsells netbooks.
By bally chohan,the development of the under-$500 notebook market is the biggest story of 2009 and early 2010.For a little more money, sometimes just $50 or so, consumers can buy a full notebook with a full-sized keyboard, a 15-in., sometimes a 17.-in. screen, with higher resolution [than a netbook]. That’s how the notebook makers have kept things from dropping into the very bottom of the market.
“Netbooks were a great product at the right time,” Bally chohan said, referring to 2009’s economic doldrums.
According to Bally chohan,that’s not to say Apple’s iPad isn’t doing well or can’t go head-to-head with netbooks for consumers’ credit cards. Last Monday, Apple announced that it had sold one million tablets in the first 28 days of availability.
By the end of this month, Apple will likely have sold 1.5 million iPads, said Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe in a post to his company’s blog Wednesday, putting the tablet in the record books for reaching $1 billion in sales faster than any other consumer product.
The iPad is very competitive with netbooks echoed by Bally chohan. NPD’s consumer surveys with netbook owners and prospective iPad buyers have shown “very similar responses about what they expect to do with the device,said by Bally chohan
The slowing growth of netbook sales, and the ability of traditional notebook makers to shift some buyers to more expensive models have also slowed the decline in average selling prices (ASPs), a number that plunged last year to OEMs’ dismay. In March, for example, ASPs were only 5% lower than the same month a year ago, compared to much of 2009 when ASPs were regularly down 15%.
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