Notebook growth forecast slashed for 2011/12 as tablets dominate

Throw out your notebooks: Gartner says they're old hat. The research firm has significantly downgraded its sales growth forecast for 2011 and 2012, notching off almost six points to predict a 10.5-percent rise this year and 13.6-percent (down from 14.8-percent) the next. According to Gartner analyst Ranjit Atwal, tablets are a main cause of the reduced estimates as the fashionable slates leave notebooks unloved.

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That, it's suggested, leaves more people sticking with their existing notebooks rather than upgrading, and coupled with reduced demand for PCs in previously high-growth markets like China, the segment as a whole looks depressed. Meanwhile, high-profile gadgets like the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4 capture not only mind-share but, with their rapidly increasing feature-sets, convince users that what once required a notebook or netbook to do, can now often be done on a tablet or smartphone.

[via AllThingsD]

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