Battle for netbooks.

And remember the bloody war for world domination between Liechtenstein, Monaco?..

As it met the stars that today's business review will be entirely devoted to the market (and prospects) netbooks. Too loud they said about themselves in 2008-2009, and too uncertain of their fate looks today.

Analyst firm IDC recently published data showing that growth in sales of netbook in the I quarter of this year slowed substantially compared to the same period in 2009. Namely: in January-March, around the world have been sold 4.8 million netbooks cost from $200 to $500 (year ago - 3.6 million). That is, in comparison with I quarter of 2009, market growth was 33,6%. Compare: in 2009, first quarter sales growth was 827%, which is higher than in the first quarter of 2008, almost 10 times. And in the course of sales in the holiday season of 2009, the share of netbooks had about 26% of all PCs shipped.

The explosive growth one year ago today, the experts explain that the buyers then attracted to low-cost netbooks. In a crisis, it was very timely. But now the market was saturated, and the purchasing power increased. Stocks are not sold netbooks also started to grow.

But what will happen next? Some experts have been quick to say that netbooks will lose its market share in laptops belonging to mode Tablet PC, and the phenomenon iPad - are a sign of the sunset short, although the brilliant reign of netbooks. Here it is worth remembering that the appearance of netbooks on the market, manufacturers have tried to position them as a new device. However, consumers are quite rightly regarded them as merely a new kind of notebook.

Planshetniki certainly - the device of a new class of portable PCs. Their ardent supporters (and opponents of the netbook) indicate that the first and second largest PC manufacturers in the world - Hewlett-Packard and Dell - are preparing to sharply reduce its output netbook with 10-inch screen and has significantly cut the amount of investments in this segment. Information about this came from Taiwanese sources, who claim that Dell and HP are planning to cut production netbooks and to focus on ultra-thin notebook with a screen of 11.6 inches. In this case, they say, HP can and does refuse to manufacture 10-inch "laptop to the Internet." And all these actions - a consequence of poor sales of systems based on Intel Atom platform last generation.

However, doubts fly crawling on a plate of my mind. It is unlikely that netbooks so easy to have deposited its position. And research company NPD confirms: 51% of potential buyers do not see a iPad any advantages over conventional netbooks. This figure is significant even among those who already have devices from Apple - 44%.

Other results of the study are as follows: 57% of potential buyers iPad alarming high price tablet - $499 even for a minimal configurations. Of those surveyed, only 18% definitely want to buy iPad, but definitely not do it (at least in the near future) 66%.

The poll also found: those who plan to buy iPad, interested above all, its browser and media player. In this regard, an analyst with NPD Stephen Baker said: "If you look at how people plan to use iPad, easy to understand why the owners of other devices that already have this functionality, for example, iPod touch, netbook or laptop, just do not want to pay $500 and more for the devices of the same.

Besides netbooks prepare "retaliation." Features netbook soon seriously enhanced by the use of graphics platform of new generation Nvidia Ion. This technology will improve the graphics performance of systems by 15 times, compared with netbooks based on the integrated graphics Intel GMA. Netbooks with Ion 2 will be available soon enough already.

By the way, and Dell has denied rumors about plans to discontinue development of its sole netbook Mini 10. At Dell, the information called groundless and drew attention to the fact that recently issued two new versions of the Mini 10 with support for HSPA + and WiMAX Verizon for Clear.

A VIA company introduced its new media processor VIA VX900, and now Samsung and Lenovo are prepared to release in June, new netbooks on its base. New items will be able to play without problems, for example, video content in a format Full HD 1080p. In addition, the monitor resolution of these netbooks will also support HD-quality.

In any case, regardless of "who's sboret - netbooks or planshetniki - portable PCs will remain the" king of the mountain. According to the forecast the company DisplaySearch, this year the world market compact personalok grow to 215 million units to supply up to $117 billion of revenue. Moreover, in 2010 the category netbooks/laptops/planshetnikov be the fastest growing segment of the global PC market. This steady growth is observed on the markets of developing regions. Another engine of growth will become corporate (B2B) spending on PCs, which will be restored after the crisis in the second half of this year.

In DisplaySearch said: "We expect that, as iPad from Apple, the tablet from other vendors will also be positioned as a device to consume content and work with content. As a result, the need to focus more on design and functionality lead to the fact that the average cost of these devices is higher than the average cost netbooks.

And more. Some industry analysts believe that the world's supply of notebooks in the second half of the year (traditionally the peak season of sales in Europe and the U.S.) can not grow much in comparison with the first half of 2010.

However, this is not associated with adverse changes in the industry, and too strong growth of demand in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2009, 40% of all notebooks were delivered to retailers in the first half of the year and 60% - in the second. But now demand from China is growing too quickly, and this proportion on the basis of 2010 could reach about 50% and 50%.