Net books to bite into notebook PC market

LONDON: With market experts foreseeing the dawn of a multibillion dollar IC sales opportunity, it is being estimated that net books and smart books will see their market year on year for the next five years. In such a scenario, it is also feared that notebook PCs and smart phones could lose out

Arizona-based market analysis firm Forward Concepts, in a study, has found that the annual market for the integrated circuits that go into Smart books, net books and mobile internet devices would most probably pierce the $9.7-billion mark by year 2014. These could include application processors, base bands, RF transceivers and others, the research firm added.

It is being estimated that growth of both PC mobile broadband and handset-centric mobile Internet subscriptions would see a massive growth thanks to the unprecedented popularity of net books and smart books. Forward Concepts put the estimated figures at 295 million and 1.3 billion, respectively in five years from now. It also revealed that net books might steal the market share from notebook computers and smart books would make a dent in the share enjoyed by smart phones

The market might get to witness smart books and mobile internet devices (MIDs) ship with near-ubiquitous 3G/LTE connectivity, said Forward Concepts. The analysis company projected these devices to grow at a 176 percent CAGR reaching 63 million units in 2014.