Thursday, May 6, 2010

Will iPad become the netbook killer?

Though no one knows what the long-term success of the Apple iPad will be, it’s already having an effect on product markets in the tech industry.

Fortune Magazine's Apple 2.0 blog reports that according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, the Little Tablet That Could is making its presence known in multiple markets, most notably the one for netbooks.

The case for considering an iPad over a netbook — those small, cheap laptop PCs that are often bought for use as a secondary computing device — is a strong one. Few people are actually replacing their regular computer with an iPad, just as they weren’t with a netbook. The prices are roughly in line with each other, and while netbooks generally run a full-blown version of Windows, you can still get a lot done with an iPad if you use it wisely.

In fact, it’s possible that the netbook market is already feeling the hurt from the iPad. In July, netbook sales were growing at a whopping 641 percent year-over-year rate and appeared unstoppable in the marketplace. But when 2010 (and the iPad announcement) arrived, sales growth hit the brakes. Last month netbook sales growth had slowed to 5 percent.

-Yahoo Tech News

For the full story: news.yahoo.com

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