Tablet sales are forecast to reach at least 15 million units this year, jumping to 28 million in 2011, according to Barclays Capital.
“We believe the initial phase of the tablet surge will cannibalize a portion of the notebook category, particularly a chunk of the netbook market and low-end notebook market,” according to Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes.
Right now, almost all of the tablet growth is coming from Apple’s iPad, which may sell as many as 10 million units this year and is forecast to sell more than twice as many next year. A report earlier this year by Avian Securities forecast Netbooks rising from 37 million in 2009 to 47 million in 2010. Almost all Netbooks use Intel processors and Microsoft’s Windows operating system. “For 2010 we expect regular notebooks to grow to 180+MM (million) from 140MM in 2009,” Avian said.
