It’s no secret that the days of the netbook, once thought to be the next big (little) thing in computing, are numbered. Research firm IHS iSupply have put a rough date on the extinction of the device and it seems that 2014 will be the last year that the little computer will be getting any sales.
In 2010 netbooks shipped 32 million units, the highest number achieved by the tech. Last year netbooks shipped 14.13 million units, which is already quite a drop but IHS estimates that the 2012 to 2013 fall will be a massive 72%. Netbooks are expected to ship just shy of 4 million units this year and that number will apparently drop to just 250,000 units or so in 2014. After that, no netbooks are expected to ship.
If anything, the expectations from IHS are a little conservative as tablets are consuming the niche the netbook was expected to occupy at an extremely rapid rate. It is still a bold claim to say that the netbook form factor will be completely extinct by 2015, though IHS is likely very close to correct on this one.
Source: AllThingsD
