Despite the slumping economy, an unexpected surge in consumer demand for the machines, known as “netbooks” or mini-notebooks, has turned them into one of the hottest new consumer-tech products in years.
“We expect there will be shortages before Christmas,” said Richard Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering, a consumer technology research firm.
Demand for the new machines “has been growing dramatically faster than we had thought,” added Bob O'Donnell of IDC, another tech research firm. IDC is set to raise its forecast for sales of the new machines this year to 10.8m, rising in 2009 to 20.8m, or 11-12 per cent of the entire laptop market, he said.
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