The latest CONTEXT EMEA PC* Shipments results show that Netbooks continued to register dramatic sales declines in Q3 2012, with unit shipments down by -42% year-on-year. Western Europe experienced the strongest decline, although it retained the greatest share of the Netbook market with almost half the unit shipments for the period occurring in this region.
In terms of vendor performance, Asus and Acer showed continued commitment to this marketplace, although the Netbook share of their Mobile portfolios decreased when compared with Q3 2011. Lenovo saw a boost in Q312 shipments due to strong sales in CEE, most notably Russia.
The launch of Windows 8 in late October has added further to the decline of Netbooks, although some demand still remains because of the very low price point and the form factor's ability over Tablets of content creation versus content consumption.
Source: Context Research Update
