End of career for netbooks

2013 marks the end of an era, that of netbooks. Taiwanese daily DigiTimes announced Asus and Acer, the last two manufacturers to still produce this type of PC, have decided to stop the production of their latest models at the beginning of the year.

Appeared in 2007 with the Asus Eee PC and the support of Intel and its Atom chip, netbooks are distinguished from competition by their compact and nomad, and their prices while defying any competition. Before turning back, Microsoft had even gone to the vice propose a stripped down version of Windows 7 called Starter who could not run more than three applications at the same time did not change the wallpaper or even read a single DVD. However, netbooks accounted for up to a quarter of the market share of computer sales in France in 2010, according to GfK. Their success has been growing until the arrival on the market of the iPad and the democratization of media tablets. Consumers prefer the tablet netbook

Curve suddenly reversed in 2011, with 14% of sales volumes for IT netbooks already 19% against the tablets, according to GfK. Final figures for 2012 are not yet known, but the supply and sales of netbooks have never been so low.

The PC market is changing with the advent of ultrabooks in 2011 - again, driven by Intel in 2012 and the development of hybrid models between tablet and traditional laptop. All these different segments suffering the success of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) more efficient.