Netbooks grabbed 30 percent of EMEA portable computer market

Research firm IDC reports mini-notebooks sales in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) accounted for 3.6 million units in the fourth quarter, which represented 30 percent of all consumer portables. Over 80 percent of the volume comes from Western Europe, and IDC reports netbooks were one of the most sought-after items in the Christmas season.

"As expected, mini-notebooks were one of the most sought-after items in the Christmas season, particularly in Western Europe, which represented over 80% of volumes," said Eszter Morvay, research manager at IDC's EMEA personal computing group.

"Driven by strong vendor and channel push, consumers benefited from the plethora of new models appearing on the shelves from October onwards, and the explosion in the product offering stimulated fierce competition for shelf space."

The most popular netbook vendor in the EMEA region is Acer, the firm has a marketshare of 30.3 percent and was closely followed by ASUS at 28 percent. HP, Samsung and Dell had a marketshare of 7 percent, 6.4 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively. The other 23.9 percent was split between other vendors.