Mini-notebook market: 10 to 15 million units sold in 2008 predicted

If anyone would know how the mini-notebook market is doing, it would likely be the folks that produced small displays, right? AU Optronics is one of those players and they were an LCD supplier for the original Asus Eee PC, so they have a little street cred in my book. Their prediction for the mini-notebook market: anywhere from 10- to 15-million units moving in 2008, which is stunning growth considering that only a few hundred thousand devices sold in 2007 (most of them being the aforementioned Eee).

While it's great news for the mobile device market, I find it a shame from the perspective of the original UMPC concept that debuted in 2006. The right price and feature-set for UMPCs could have witnessed similar strong demand. Still, I think some aspects of the original and second-gen UMPCs set the stage for the mini-notebook market that's exploding right now. There's various other reasons as well, but we'll get into those on our next podcast, so stay tuned.

Comments

[Mike Cane]

Come see the MSI Wind specs straight from the manual and see how to get your own copy too!
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/the-msi-wind-manual/

At this point, I have to think MSI itself has carefully orchestrated these leaks. A brilliant campaign!!

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Uh... what do the MSI Wind specs / manual have what to do with sales predictions for the sub-note market in general? ;)

[Rova1]

With so many me too mini notebooks do other people agree there is opportunity for a point of difference with a Windows Mobile/Windows CE option offered by a manufacturer. The HTC Shift with HTC's SnapVUE is one but on an expensive machine. I have good memories of the old HP Jornada with Windows CE. Instant on is a major missing point from modern UMPCs available on the old Jornada. Its' time it came back!