Skip to main content

Mobile Internet Device Market Diversification

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, almost 35 million netbook PCs will be shipped by manufacturers in 2009 -- a forecast the firm first made in February. ASUS dominated the netbook category in 2007 when it debuted the Eee PC, and Acer made a big push in the forth quarter of 2008 to lead the second year.

"74 percent of 2008 netbook shipments bore the brands of just three vendors: Acer, ASUS, and Samsung," says senior analyst Jeff Orr. "However, the rapid growth of netbooks as a second computer in developed markets will be eclipsed in coming years by vendors targeting developing nations and first Internet PCs at home."

The netbook and nascent mobile Internet device (MID) markets are not locked up. While several of the leading netbook vendors are recognizable brands from the laptop and desktop computing markets, new vendors -- including handset maker Nokia -- have introduced netbooks and MIDs in an effort to participate in the growth of these segments.

ABI Research forecasts UMDs (Ultra-mobile Devices: the combination of Netbooks, MIDs and UMPCs) to top 124 million systems shipped in 2011.

As netbook markets thrive, the mobile consumer electronics category, which is expected to account for only about two million device shipments this year, is forecast to top 50 million in 2014.

This market is currently led by connected Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) and eBook readers. Every major navigation company is in the running, offering turn-by-turn navigation, overlays, weather, traffic, and real-time traffic updates. Amazon's Kindle has lots of competition coming from the Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Daily Edition, iRex, Plastic Logic Que and others.

Finally, Orr believes, laptop vendors may soon reinvent the UMPC, bringing down the low-end laptop price to $500 through ultra-low voltage machines. That could affect some netbook sales in developed markets, especially the business users.

Popular posts from this blog

Open Banking Usage to Grow by 470 Percent

The Open Banking business model has been advantageous for Third-Party Providers (TPPs), helping them to extend their offerings into other areas of financial services with new capabilities. Open Banking is also advantageous for traditional banking institutions, despite the perceived loss of custodianship over their data, by providing greater accessibility to more bank services. Furthermore, Open Banking can help serve Mobile Internet providers that are able to leverage it to create tailored services according to customers’ preferences and/or economic limitations. Open Banking Market Development Since traditional banking services are made more convenient by TPPs via greater data access, customers can proactively manage their finances and shape the development of new financial offerings. This is particularly noticeable in the realm of Digital Payments, where retail merchants and customers transact through eCommerce, which has the greatest number of use cases for Open Banking. These includ

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year