Report claims 14.6 million netbooks shipped in 2008, further growth expected

While any number of total netbooks shipped or sold is bound to be a little suspect, given that many folks can't even agree on what a netbook is, this latest report from research firm DisplayBank at least gives us a decent impression, and confirms what many likely thought. According to the report, the total netbook shipments for 2008 reached an impressive 14.6 million, with Acer and ASUS leading the way with a 37.3% and 33.2% market share, respectively, and HP a distant third with 7.5%. Those numbers, however, represent just 11% of total laptop sales, although DisplayBank sees that share increasing to 18.9% by 2012. As you might have guessed, to arrive at the number, the folks from DisplayBank also offered up their own definition of a netbook, which they describe as "as having similar functions as NotePC, supports networking and have retail price lower than US$650. Especially, products are narrowed with screen size of 7 – 10.2 inch and with Linux or Microsoft Windows operating system equipped." Yeah, that'll settle things.

[Via China Times]