Despite what is looking to be a rather dismal fourth quarter for the PC industry as a whole, one very bright spot has emerged. The mini-note PC, also called netbook, category grew at more than 160% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2008 as most of the top tier PC brands have now entered the market. Asustek Computer, which had essentially created the market in late 2007, lost significant share as Acer surged to the top spot, capturing more than 35% of this market.
In 2007, this market was less than one million units. By the end of 2008, DisplaySearch expects this market to surge to more than 14 million units.