Netbooks hanging on in there say analysts

Despite having a great 2010, tablet devices have not succeeded in killing off the stubborn netbook say analysts.

A report from ABI Research showed that, although tablet devices experienced massive growth over the second half of last year, markets for alternative devices – such as e-readers and netbooks – also expanded.

Jeff Orr, senior practice director at ABI Research noted that the dominance of tablet devices had been slightly exaggerated.

“The hype that tablets were displacing portable computers and dedicated CE device purchases simply did not become a reality,” Orr said, before predicting that price will become the next battleground for tablet devices.

ABI’s report predicted the emergence of “low-feature, low price” tablet units in 2011, as tablet shipping hits 40-50 million units. It also predicts that netbooks and other devices will not be killed off by this increase in popularity of tablets.

Meanwhile, news has emerged that sales of Apple’s new iPad 2 tablet device have not gone as well as expected, despite shifting 4.69 million units during its first quarter of release.

However, the Apple publicity machine has stated that the company sold every unit it made and the shortfall was due to manufacturing constraints only, rather than a lack of interest.

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