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Netbooks: A Curse or a Blessing in an Imploding PC Market?
Bits — What are we to make of these netbooks, which are either saving the PC industry during desperate days or dragging it down one low-profit laptop at a time? The research firm IDC dished out new figures on Wednesday that illuminate some startling trends in the PC industry. First off, the fresh data confirms just how much the PC market turned south in the fourth quarter. Sales of PC processors fell 11 percent year-over-year, while revenue declined 22 percent. Companies like Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia had already confirmed the woeful state of the PC business with ...

CPU shipments are down overall, but Intel Atom sales are up
Liliputing — ... There’s good news and bad news for computer chipmakers. Research firm IDC reports that overall microprocessor shipments were down 11.4% in the fourth quarter of 2008 when compared with the same period in 2007. In case you couldn’t guess, that’s the bad news. The good news is that Intel Atom processors are shipping like there’s no tomorrow. In fact, the decline would have been much steeper (21.6%) if the Atom hadn’t been around. ...

Chip Market Freefall Expected Until July
InformationWeek - All Stories And Blogs — Global PC microprocessor sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 fell at a rate not seen in 12 years, and the market is likely to continue spiraling downward at least through the first half of this year, a research firm said Wednesday. Shipments in the quarter dropped 11.4% from the same period a year ago and 17% from the third quarter, IDC said. Market revenue fell 22.2% year-to-year and 18% quarter-to-quarter to $6.78 billion. For the full year, processor ...

Chip Market Freefall Expected Until July
TechWeb — Global PC microprocessor sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 fell at a rate not seen in 12 years, and the market is likely to continue spiraling downward at least through the first half of this year, a research firm said Wednesday. Shipments in the quarter dropped 11.4% from the same period a year ago and 17% from the third quarter, IDC said. Market revenue fell 22.2% year-to-year and 18% quarter-to-quarter to $6.78 billion. For the full year, processor ...

Everybody panic: PC processor market will hockey stick straight down until we’re all dead
CrunchGear — ... The report, which basically recaps the old saw that netbooks are driving down processor prices and forcing a race to the bottom in terms of pricing. While this is partially true - people no longer have to buy a powerhouse if they want a second laptop - you’re also forgetting the folks who might have once been rolling in credit are now wary of it and when they see a $399 laptop they figure “Why not?” ...

Netbooks killing off sickly Windows PC sales
AppleInsider — By Prince McLean Published: 06:00 AM EST PC sales are in free fall as the weak demand for Windows desktops and full-size notebooks in a poorly performing global economy is being compounded by an influx of low cost netbooks, which are gobbling up the remains of profitability in the PC industry. According to an IDC report issued last week, worldwide PC processor unit shipments in the fourth quarter of 2008 declined –17.0% quarter over quarter and –11.4% year over year. Those tragic numbers were buoyed somewhat by sales of mini-laptop netbooks running low powered processors. Take out Intel's Atom chips that power netbooks, and ...

Netbooks killing Windows faster than expected
Open Source — Call it the sum of Microsoft’s fears. IDC figures from the fourth quarter show a rush toward inexpensive Netbooks and away from Windows laptops. Take out sales of the Atom processor running many Netbooks and total shipments were down 20%, figures showed. Apple fans are crowing that Macs are resisting this downward pressure. One reason might be the MacBook Air, which offers the light weight of a Netbook, along with a full-size keyboard and large screen. The success of the Netbook form factor — no moving parts — gives Linux a real opportunity to make headway on the ...